Asplenium trichomanes subsp. quadrivalens

English name: Maidenhair Spleenwort
Gaelic name: Dubh-chasach

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

Botanist in Skye: Recorded in all hectads.

New Atlas:
1950-1969: NG15, NG23, NG47.
1970-1986: NG36, NG43.
1987-1999: Recorded in all other hectads.

Asplenium trichomanes subsp. quadrivalens

Atlas of Ferns:
Pre 1950 record: NG71.
Post 1950 records: NG42*, NG45.
* specimen cytologically tested.

British Pteridophyte Records:
BPS Bulletin Volume 2, Number 1, (1979): NG51 M. McCallum Webster.
The Fern Gazette Volume 12, Part 5, (1983): NG33, 43, 44, 54, 62, 72 G. Ramsey.

Botanist in Skye: NG42, NG45.

New Atlas:
1970-1986: NG33, 42, 43, 44, 45, 51, 62, 72.
1987-1999: NG25.

Asplenium trichomanes subsp. trichomanes

Atlas of Ferns: Not recorded.

Botanist in Skye: Not recorded.

New Atlas: Not recorded.

In the Fern Gazette Volume 12, Part 5, (1983) there are records by G. Ramsey for NG33 and NG45. 

Altitude distribution on Skye
Minimum: 5m.
Maximum: 530m.

Asplenium trichomanes is common throughout the Island on walls and derelict buildings and Asplenium ruta-muraria, A. adiantum-nigrum and/or Polypodium vulgare are often present. On limestone pavements it occurs with A. ruta-muraria, A. viride, A. scolopendrium, Cystopteris fragilis and Polystichum aculeatum. At higher altitudes (above 300m) on Jurassic limestone outcrops in Coire Uaigneach, Blà Bheinn, and on the calcareous cliffs of Sgùrr Mor, The Storr and the Quirang it occurs with A. viride, Cystopteris fragilis and Polystichum lonchitis. In Rodwell (ed.) (2000) it occurs in the OV39 and OV40 communities. In Birks (1973) it occurs in the Asplenium trichomanes-Fissidens dubius, Betula pubescens-Cirsium heterophyllum and Fraxinus excelsior-Brachypodium sylvaticum Associations and as a part of the Limestone Pavement Community.

K. R. Wood in an unpublished manuscript in 1969 states that although some of the Skye populations of Asplenium trichomanes can be referred to either subsp. trichomanes or subsp. quadrivalens on the basis of the length of rhizome scale and spore size, the majority of the plants examined (23 out of a total of 33) were morphologically intermediate, with spore sizes between 38 and 42 µm, and rhizome scales between 2.4 and 3.2 mm. Despite the two records for subsp. trichomanes above, I am personally convinced that only subsp. quadrivalens is to be found on the Island.