English name: Black Spleenwort
Gaelic name: Raineach Uaine

Atlas of Ferns:
Pre 1950 record: NG41.
Post 1950 records: Recorded in all other hectads.

British Pteridophyte Records:
The Fern Gazette Volume 12, Part 5, (1983): NG41 C. W. Murray, NG72 H. J. B. Birks.

Botanist in Skye: Recorded in all hectads.

New Atlas:
1950-1969: NG23, NG44, NG47.     
1970-1986: NG36, NG43.
1987-1999: Recorded in all other hectads. 

Altitude distribution on Skye
Minimum: 1m.
Maximum: 150m.

Asplenium adiantum-nigrum is common throughout the Island on walls, derelict buildings and exposed rock faces. In Rodwell (ed.) (2000) it occurs in the OV39 and OV40 communities and Asplenium ruta-muraria, A. trichomanes and/or Polypodium vulgare are often present, however it can also be present in the MC2 community (see A. marinum). It is often a component of the fern vegetation that occurs in smaller crevices in grikes and clint surfaces of limestone pavements and also in what Ben Averis describes as “Calcareous chasmophytic vegetation on rocky slopes” which is steep bare rock with sparse assemblages of species. In Birks (1973) it occurs in the Asplenium marinum-Schistidium marinum, Asplenium trichomanes-Fissidens dubius and Luzula sylvatica-Silene dioica Associations and as a part of the Limestone Pavement Community.

The frond varies considerably in both size and shape depending on environmental conditions.