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Marsilea minuta L., Mant. Pl. 308 308 1771. (Syn: Marsilea aegyptiaca Wall. ; Marsilea brachycarpa A.Braun ; Marsilea brachypus A.Braun ; Marsilea cornuta (A.Braun) A.Braun; Marsilea crenata C.Presl ; Marsilea crenulata Desv. ; Marsilea diffusa Lepr. ex A.Braun ; Marsilea diffusa f. algeriensis A.Braun ; Marsilea diffusa var. approximata A.Braun ; Marsilea diffusa f. canariensis A.Braun ; Marsilea diffusa f. gracilipes A.Braun ; Marsilea diffusa f. madagascariensis A.Braun ; Marsilea diffusa f. microcarpa A.Braun ; Marsilea diffusa f. microphylla A.Braun ; Marsilea diffusa f. nilotica A.Braun ; Marsilea diffusa var. normalis A.Braun ; Marsilea elata var. cornuta A.Braun ; Marsilea elata var. crenata (C.Presl) Sadeb. ; Marsilea erosa Willd. ; Marsilea fimbriata Schumach. ; Marsilea gracilenta A.Braun ; Marsilea kedarmalii Bhardwaja, Gena & D’Souza ; Marsilea maheshwarii Gopal ; Marsilea major (Haines) N.P.Chowdhury ; Marsilea mearnsii Christ ; Marsilea microcarpa A.Braun ; Marsilea minuta var. indica K.M.Gupta ; Marsilea minuta var. major Haines ; Marsilea perrieriana C.Chr. ; Marsilea poonensis Kolh. ; Marsilea sinensis Hand.-Mazz. ; Marsilea tenax Peter ; Marsilea tetraphylla Thunb. ; Marsilea vulgaris Bory ; Zaluzianskya crenulata (Desv.) Kuntze ; Zaluzianskya diffusa (Lepr. ex A.Braun) Kuntze );
. Tropical & Subtropical Old World: Afghanistan, Algeria, Andaman Is., Angola, Assam, Bangladesh, Benin, Botswana, Burkina, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Central African Repu, Chad, China South-Central, China Southeast, Comoros, East Himalaya, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Hainan, India, Japan, Jawa, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Laos, Lesser Sunda Is., Madagascar, Malawi, Malaya, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Nansei-shoto, New Guinea, Niger, Nigeria, Northern Territory, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Queensland, Rwanda, Réunion, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sulawesi, Swaziland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda, Vietnam, West Himalaya, Zambia, Zaïre as per POWO; .
M. quadrifolia does NOT occur in India (apart from some cultures in Universities etc.) – it is mainly a European species, as has been known now since two or three decades. It is distinguished quite easily by the sorocarps arising from a short way up the leaf pedicel, not in the axil where the pedicell meets the basal stem as in Indian species. All the reports from India, Pakistan etc., which basicly go back to 19th Century alpha-taxonomy, turned out on investigation to be either sterile plants – which are unidentifiable – or mistakes.
The usual mistake is for the very widespread and common Indian species, M. minuta (syn.: M. crenata), with the sorocarps arising at the axil. There are two other species in peninsular India, and any number of forms of M. minuta have been described, sometimes as species.
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Marsilea – an aquatic fern:
Photo: 2011-01-09 small stream in farmland. Havelock Island, Andaman Islands Marsilea sp – this is an aquatic fern with leaves that resembles Oxalis.
Are there many species? Yes there are indeed quite a few species of Marsilea M. crenata is not a native of India, but of Australia and the Philippines.
M. quadrifolia is also not a native of India (not even of Kashmir) but of Europe. This plant is surely going to be the common Indian native, M. minuta, as also recorded by Dixit & Sinha in their “Pteridophytes of the Andamans & Nicobars” (correctly!). However, as anyone will tell you, the floating plants are sterile, and Marsilea species cannot be identified in the absence of sorocarps. Sorocarps are produced when plants are on dry land at the edges of ponds.
Yes, there are two other good species in India, M. aegyptiaca and M. coromandelina – but then some dozen other “species” were described from India which mostly appear to be more in the way of just forms of M. minuta (but anyway, still need investigating further and re-assessed as to what their status really is, some are definitely forms of minuta and not species by more usual concepts of species). I think this is M. minuta, but this information needs be cofirmed on the basis of study of its sporocarp. I agree with the views expressed by ….
Hooghly Today : Marsilea sp. : Attachments (5). 6 posts by 3 authors. Bengal Plants gives key to two Marsilea species –
(i) Pedicels adnate to the base of the petiole ——- quadrifoliata
(ii) Pedicels quite free from the petioles ——- minuta
FoNA keys in –
(i) roots both at nodes and sparsely (1-3) along internodes —— quadrifolia
(ii) others These small fern plants are of unusual appearance and do not resemble common ferns. Common names are water clover and four-leaf clover. Leaves are either held above water or submerged. A most useful plant for creating a dense green cover as foreground for the aquarium. We eat this fern as a vegetable and call it as SUSHNI-SHAK in Bengali – http://en.bdfish.org/2013/01/water-clover-marsilea-sp/ Well it sometimes takes a long time for later research work to become generally known. First M. quadrifolia does NOT occur in India (apart from some cultures in Universities etc.) – it is mainly a European species, as has been known now since two or three decades. It is distinguished quite easily by the sorocarps arising from a short way up the leaf pedicel, not in the axil where the pedicell meets the basal stem as in Indian species. All the reports from India, Pakistan etc., which basicly go back to 19th Century alpha-taxonomy, turned out on investigation to be either sterile plants – which are unidentifiable – or mistakes.
The usual mistake is for the very widespread and common Indian species, M. minuta (syn.: M. crenata), with the sorocarps arising at the axil. There are two other species in peninsular India, and any number of forms of M. minuta have been described, sometimes as species.
Finally, no Marsilea can be identified from photographs that do not show close-up details of the sorocarps – thus although I can wager that the plants in the photos are presumably M. minuta, they can’t actually be identified as such until we can see the sorocarps – which generally develop when the plant grows out of the water on land and becomes much smaller.
I wonder if people know the interesting story of the Australian species called there “Nardoo grass” (from a place name), which is a Marsilea, I think perhaps M. drummondii, a large species with densely hairy leaves. The European settlers found that the Aboriginees, perfectly in balance with their surrounding natural environment, ate it and survived harsh times from using it as a food stuff – and a number of settlers attempted at various times to follow suit. But they did not know that like tapioca etc. it must be well boiled first, as otherwise it contains a strong alkaloid poison [I hope I have the details right] – which resulted in numbers of deaths of explorers and settlers.
Maybe one has to identify which one it is, as a first priority – which brings me back to the point that we need to see those little sorocarps! Many many thanks to … for elaborating on the genus Marsilea.
marsilea quadrifolia — Tanay Bose:
Marsilea quadrifolia from Marsileaceae (pteridophyte) captured from kolkata used as a leafy vegetable in bengal This plant grows under a mango tree on moist soil. I am confused about its identity. Please suggest its correct ID.
Marsilea vistita?
Generally Marsilea grows in muddy or wet habitats but this grows in moist soil.
Location: Rajgir, Nalanda, Bihar
Time: July 2020
It is perfectly ordinary Marsilea minuta. They live in water or on dampish soil. When on the ground they usually start to grow smaller leaves with crenate outer margins and become fertile. But this hasn’t got that far yet.
M. vestita is non-Indian. People posting here really need some accurate modern fern-literature on Indian Ferns! .  Identification required.- Help me to identify this herb: 1 high res. image. Help me to identify this herb. Location:Kulgam, jammu and kashmir Marselia minuta Yes M. minuta This is Marsilea minuta, a common plant of damp fields, rice-fields, and ponds. To confirm the identity you need to show the sorocarps, which are borne on the lower-growing, smaller, non-aquatic plants, But it is no problem as only M. minuta is in northern India, including J. & K..
In the past such plants were often mistaken for the European M. quadrifolia, which is not present in India – but that has a quite different position of the sorocarps – on the lower leaf-petiole, as opposed to in the axil of the petiole and basal stem.
It’s also edible. I will try to get sorocarps of possible    Aquatic Plant – Marsilea species:
( Plant which mimics Amphibian !) Looks similar to the fern –Marsilea crenata Presl – MARSILEACEAE – Pteridophytae pepperwort, water clover.
round stem, hairy, 4 leaflets, partially submerged or terrestrial, margin entire (in young leaves)
Photo date: 09 Jun 2009
Habitat Irrigation stream.
Hampapura village, Mysore dist
Are you sure that the plants in the first 2 pictures are same to that of the 3rd picture? all pictures are of Marsilea sp. even the 3rd one… Yes I agree with … can it be Marsilea drummondii ? Yes Marselia sp. of Marsileaceae family not Oxalis. It seems to be Marsilea sps. For a proper identification of Marsilea species one has to study the sporocarp, its surface, attachment, number etc. The laeflets (pinnules) are too plastic and variable in cutting, size and shape to be of much importance in identifying a species properly. These features can vary with the habitat also. This is borne out by the fact that people have tried to identify the picture and suggested different names. One can refer to the monograph on Marsilea by K M Gupta 1962 (CSIR Publication), or the views expressed by C R Fraser-Jenkins in his publications (Syndrome) 1996 and 300species in 2009. I’m afraid this is yet another photo that is unidentifiable as the people submitting photos do not know what features are required to see. This has applied to nearly every photo in this forum so far. Yet there is plenty of literature available to tell people what features to look at – but they don’t bother to look for and read it. .
synonyms: Marsilea diffusa Leprieur ex A.Br., Marsilea diffusa Lepr.
location/date: Barha, Jabalpur Distr., Madhya Pradesh, October 1994 .
Habit: Herbarium
Location: Bundi Rajasthan
Date: Nov. 2024
More close to Marsilea aegyptiaca Willd. ?? I think it’s more closer to minuta according to eflora of china keys Need to see a few more photos of sorocarps in situ. The second photo is of no use for identification, as it does not show the sorocarps.
Well yes, presumably – I also guessed it is most likely to be the very widespread and common M. minuta (M. quadrifolia does not occur in India, despite reports), but I am not going to guess until we can see the sorocarps, in case it was M. aegyptica etc. . |
Marsilea minuta
Updated on January 17, 2025