DESCRIPTION:
WHAT DOES HE MEAN?
When the Nardoo turns to brown.
Marsilea (Nardoo) turns brown and forms sporocarps as the
floodwaters recede.
Aust.Nardoo was one of the really fascinating plants.
It survives long, hot, dry summers and grows in wet situations. It's one of those typically Australian plant oddities. It looks like a clover, but it's not. It looks like a waterlily, but it's not one of those either. In fact it's a rare, unusual plant related to ferns.
Nardoo is widespread, yet uncommon, it grows in wet areas in all states of temperate mainland Australia and it's found growing in habitats from lake sides, to shallow, muddy roadside depressions. Dried up plants, which can look dead, seem to resurrect themselves as winter rains arrive. Individual plants spread by means of a creeping stem. Propagate by dividing these in early spring and after the last frosts.
One of the delights of Nardoo is the complex pattern in the leaves that have to be appreciated close at hand.
Tough, yet delicate, Nardoo has no pest or disease problems and you can grow it in water from 15 centimetres, to a metre deep. It will never outgrow its container so it's ideal for mini water gardens.
Marsilea is a genus of approximately 65 species of aquatic ferns of the family Marsileaceae. The name honours Italian naturalist Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli (1656-1730).[3]
These small plants are of unusual appearance and do not resemble common ferns. Common names include water clover and four-leaf clover because the long-stalked leaves have four clover-like lobes and are either held above water or submerged.
The sporocarps of some Australian species are very drought-resistant, surviving up to 100 years in dry conditions. On wetting, the gelatinous interior of the sporocarp swells, splitting it and releasing a worm-like mass that carries sori, eventually leading to germination of spores and fertilization
Sporocarps of some Australian species such as Marsilea drummondii are edible and have been eaten by Aborigines and early white settlers, who knew it under the name ngardu or nardoo. Parts of Marsilea drummondii contain an enzyme which destroys thiamine (vitamin B1), leading to brain damage in sheep and horses. During floods in the Gwydir River basin 2,200 sheep died after eating nardoo. Three-quarters of the sheep that were affected did however respond to thiamine injections.[5] Thiamine deficiency from incorrectly prepared nardoo likely resulted in the starvation of Burke and Wills.[6]
The leaves of Marsilea crenata are part of the East Javanese cuisine of Indonesia, especially in the city of Surabaya. It is called Pecel Semanggi and is served with spicy peanut and sweet potato sauce.