English name: Sea Spleenwort
Gaelic name: Raineach na Mara

Atlas of Ferns:
Post 1950 records: NG14, 15, 23-26, 33-37, 41, 42, 46, 47, 51, 53-57, 60-62, 71, 72.

British Pteridophyte Records:
The Fern Gazette Volume 12, Part 5, (1983): NG32 C. W. Murray, NG52 M Coulson.

Botanist in Skye: Recorded in all hectads except NG43-45, 63, 65.

New Atlas:
1950-1969: NG46.
1970-1986: NG15, 32, 35, 36, 37, 52, 72.
1987-1999: Recorded in all other hectads except NG43-45.

Altitude distribution on Skye
Minimum: 1m.
Maximum: 30m.

Asplenium marinum occurs locally, sometimes with great local abundance and luxuriance, in sheltered rock-crevices near the sea and on rock faces under overhangs of sea-cliffs, where constant drenching with spray from Gulf Stream waters creates a humid, frost-free atmosphere. It appears to favour mildly basic rock but also occurs more rarely on sandstones and limestone. The community is often subject to sea-spray, especially during storms. Asplenium adiantum-nigrum may also be present, or even dominate the community. In Rodwell (ed) (2000) this community is part of MC2 however it states that “an alternative treatment of the Asplenium marinum rich component would be to regard it as a separate maritime Asplenietea community, perhaps as part of the Asplenietum marinae Br.-Bl. R.Tx. 1952 (e.g. Birks 1973)”. Murray and Birks (1980) record that it is absent where rivers make sea lochs less saline, e.g. the upper arms of Loch Snizort.