http:\/\/en.bdfish.org\/2013\/01\/water-clover-marsilea-sp\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n
\nWell it sometimes takes a long time for later research work to become generally known. First M. quadrifolia<\/i> 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,<\/span> not in the axil where the pedicell meets the basal stem as in Indian species<\/span>.<\/p>\nAll 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.<\/span><\/div>\n The usual mistake is for the very widespread and common Indian species, M. minuta<\/i> (syn.: M. crenata<\/i>), with the sorocarps arising at the axil. There are two other species in peninsular India, and any number of forms of M. minuta<\/i> have been described, sometimes as species.<\/span><\/div>\nFinally, no Marsilea<\/i> 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<\/i>,<\/span> 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.<\/span><\/div>\nI wonder if people know the interesting story of the Australian species called there “Nardoo grass” (from a place name), which is a Marsilea<\/i>, I think perhaps M. drummondii<\/i>, 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.
\n<\/span>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!<\/span><\/div>\n\n
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Many many thanks to … for elaborating on the genus Marsilea<\/i>.
\nIt’s sort of another ‘eye-opening’ learning that <\/span>Marsilea quadrifolia<\/i> does not occur in our country. Yet so many ‘papers’ are getting published each year assessing the medicinal properties of <\/span>Marsilea quadrifolia<\/i> in our country, some are as latest as this one <\/span>isca.pdf<\/span><\/a>!<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n