English name: Scaly Male-fern
Gaelic name: Mearlag

Atlas of Ferns:
Post 1950 records: Recorded in all hectads except NG43.

Botanist in Skye: Recorded in all hectads.

New Atlas:
1950-1969: NG35.
1987-1999: Recorded in all other Hectads.

Altitude distribution on Skye
Minimum: 5m.
Maximum: 365m.

Christopher Fraser-Jenkins in his new paper on the D. affinis group raises the former subspecies of D. affinis to species level therefore D. affinis subspecies affinis, borreri and cambrensis become D. affinis, D. borreri and D. cambrensis. All three species have been recorded on the Island. Most text books on British ferns describing how to determine the various taxa start with a statement about taking a typical specimen, the vast majority of plants are of intermediate morphology so the distribution maps only show records where I was 100% certain of the species or the plant had been determined by an expert. The rest of the records are shown as Dryopteris affinis agg. Likewise I have not described the plant communities the various species are found in until I made a lot more observations they are all lumped together as the aggregate species

Dryopteris affinis aggregate is common throughout the Island and in places the hillsides are tinged with yellow in early spring with large stands of the species. It is probably the first fern that visitors to Skye will notice if they journey to the Island over the Bridge as just past the Crofters café there is a rock face alongside the A87 on which D. affinis grows in great profusion. Athyrium filix-femina, Oreopteris limbosperma, Blechnum spicant and Pteridium aquilinum are normally found with it and locally Dryopteris aemula, Dryopteris dilatata and Dryopteris filix-mas may also occur.

In Rodwell (ed.) (1991, 1992) it occurs in the W9, W11a, W11b, W17a and U17 communities. In Birks (1973) it occurs in the Vaccineto-Callunetum hepaticosum, Luzula sylvatica-Vaccinium myrtillus, Betula pubescens-Cirsium heterophyllum, Sedum rosea-Alchemilla glabra and Corylus avellana-Oxalis acetosella Associations and as a part of the Limestone Pavement Community. In Rodwell et al. (2000) it states that Dryopteris borreri (=D. affinis) occurs abundantly in sometimes quite extensive stands with Nardo-Galion associates over the lower slopes of hills in western Scotland. This may warrant a new community in the NVC.