Selaginella kraussiana (Kunze) A. Braun (syn.: Lycopodium kraussianum Kunze) (trop. and S-Afr., Açores) – A very rare, usually rather ephemeral escape from cultivation. First seen in 1887 on a damp wall in Wezellenaux (Vilance). Recorded in 1980 as a garden weed in Turnhout (outdoors) and recently reported as very persistent despite repeated cold winters in a lawn in Belsele (Van Rompu 2010). In 2010 furthermore discovered as a lawn weed near a castle in Wondelgem (large population of several square meters, possibly naturalised for some time). Apparently also a frequent weed in greenhouses (known since long and still regularly recorded, for instance in and around greenhouses in the Zoo at Antwerpen since 2006).
Possibly overlooked and under-recorded.
Selected literature
Lawalrée A (1950) Ptéridophytes. In: Robyns W. (ed.), Flore Générale de Belgique, vol. 1. Jardin Botanique de l’Etat, Bruxelles: IV + 194 p.
Lawalrée A (1964) Selaginella. In: Tutin T.G. & al. (eds.), Flora Europaea, vol. 1. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 4-5.
Van Rompu W. (2010) Selaginella kraussiana overwinterend in een gazon in Belsele (Sint-Niklaas). Dumortiera 98: 22-24.