Marsilea

Marsilea
Marsilea villosa
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Pteridophyta
Class:	Pteridopsida
Order:	Salviniales
Family:	Marsileaceae
Genus:	Marsilea L.
Species
See text.

Marsilea is a genus of approximately 65 species of aquatic ferns of family Marsileaceae.

These small plants are of unusual appearance and do not resemble common ferns. The long-stalked leaves have four clover-like lobes and either held above water or submerged, hence the common names such as "water clover" and "four-leaf clover".

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 contains an enzyme which destroys 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.^[1]

A few species of marsilea, e.g. Marsilea crenata, Marsilea exarata and Marsilea quadrifolia are grown in aquaria.

The leaves of Marsilea crenata is part of culinary Eastern Javanese of Indonesia, especially in the city of Surabaya. It is called Pecel Semanggi and served with spicy peanut and sweet potato sauce.

Other species include:

• Marsilea oligospora

See also

• Bush bread

References

• Mabberley, D.J. (1997). The Plant-Book. Cambridge University Press.
• Edmund Russow: Histologie und Entwicklungsgeschichte der Sporenfrucht von Marsilia. Dissertation. Dorpat 1871 (PDF)
• Johnson 1986 Systematics of the New World species of Marsilea. Syst. Bot. Monog. 11:1-87.