Marsilea drummondii

Marsileaceae

Marsilea drummondii A.Braun

Link to Australian Plant Name Index for publication details and synonyms: https://id.biodiversity.org.au/name/apni/104421

Common nardoo

Rhizome long-creeping, much branched, bearing nodal roots and peltate dense brownish apical scales. Fronds 2–30 cm long, solitary or clustered. Stipes glabrous or scaly. Leaflets broadly obovate to broadly cuneate, 10–35 mm long, 3–10 mm wide, glabrous or scaly; outer margin rounded, entire to deeply crenate. Sporocarps solitary or clustered; stalks 10–50 mm long, unbranched, 2–10 times the length of the conceptacle, glabrous to scaly; conceptacles oblong, 4–9 mm long, densely scaly, faintly to distinctly ribbed; upper basal tooth triangular, acute; lower basal tooth longer, obtuse. 

Endemic to inland areas of WA, NT, SA, QLD, NSW and Vic.

Aquatic amphibious herb grows in still or sluggishly moving waters.

Plants in more arid regions are more densely scaly. Aborigines collected the sporocarps and ground them as food.