Marsilea drummondii is a species of fern known by the common name nardoo. It is native to Australia, where it is widespread and common, particularly in inland regions. It is a rhizomatous perennial aquatic fern that roots in mud substrates and produces herbage that floats on the surface of quiet water bodies. It occurs in water up to one metre deep.Marsilea drummondii. ANBG. It occurs in abundance after floods.Thomas, A. Nardoo, the desert fern. ABC Science. March 8, 2007 It can form mats on the water's surface and cover the ground in carpets as floodwaters recede. It is variable in appearance and occurs in many types of wetland habitat. In general the frond is made up of two pairs of leaflets and is borne erect when not floating. The plant produces sporocarps which can remain viable for 50 years and only release spores after being thoroughly soaked. The sporocarps are dispersed by birds that eat them but cannot digest them, and by flowing water. The sporocarp is used for food by Australian Aborigines, who collect, roast and grind them to powder which they mix with water to make a dough.Perumal, G. (2010). Ethnomedicinal use of pteridophyte from Kolli Hills, Namakkal District, Tamil Nadu, India. Ethnobotanical Leaflets 14 161.Marsilea drummondii. Botanic Gardens Trust, Sydney. The sporocarp can be toxic due to high levels of thiaminase, which destroys thiamine. Consumption of large amounts can cause beriberi. It has been known to poison sheep,Thiaminase. Cornell Dept. Animal Science. as well as humans, including the leaders of the Burke and Wills expedition.Earl, J. W. and B. V. McCleary. (1994). Mystery of the poisoned expedition. Nature 368 683–4. Nardoo must be prepared properly using heat before consumption to destroy the thiaminase.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
⚠ sources differ — GIFT: herb · AusTraits: herb · TRY: Aquatic
Leaf compoundnesscompound
Leaf shapeobtriangular widely_obovate
Woodinessnon-woody
Physiology & chemistry2
Nitrogen fixingnon_nitrogen_fixer
Photosynthetic pathwayC3
⚠ sources differ — TRY: C3 · AusTraits: c4
05DNA & barcoding3 specimens
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Marsilea drummondii has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens3
Marker genes1
GenBank sequences3
eDNA detections3
The DNA barcodea real sequence read deposited for this species
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
★rbcL3
plant barcode
06Genome at a glanceCCDB
The complete instruction manualMarsilea drummondii carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
Chromosome-count records — grouped by value · 2n = full set, n = gamete · click a value for sources & references
2n 1202×CCDB · barker-ferns · CCDB · ipcn-api-dl
CCDB · barker-ferns — Tindale, Mary D., and S. K. Roy. "A cytotaxonomic survey of the Pteridophyta of Australia."Australian Systematic Botany15.6 (2002): 839-937.
CCDB · ipcn-api-dl — Tindale. 2002. In M. D. Tindale & S. K. Roy, A cytotaxonomic survey of the Pteridophyta of Australia. Austral. Syst. Bot. 15: 839–937.
2n 641×CCDB · book-LoveLove1977
CCDB · book-LoveLove1977 — Feller 1953
07Deep time~3.81 Ma lineage
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
DNA clock origin3.81 Ma TimeTree
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
DNA clock origin
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type10 086 records
Wild obs. + sensor8 697
Museum / vouchered1 260
Cultivated / captive3
Other126
Origin
Native657
Introduced3
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO20 364 km²
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy96% within 1 km
≤100 m 7 325≤1 km 901≤10 km 288>10 km 27
8 541 georeferenced · 156 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor8 697
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Coordinate accuracy38% within 1 km
≤100 m 197≤1 km 225≤10 km 571>10 km 117
1 110 georeferenced · 150 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence1 260
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Coordinate accuracy50% within 1 km
≤1 km 1≤10 km 1
2 georeferenced · 1 without coordinates
Open the mapnot free-living3
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
10Collections & institutions
Holding institutions32 of 46 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
Adelaide, AU
314
Mount Annan, AU
223
Museo Entomologico de Leonlocation not on record
183
Canberra, AU
110
Brisbane, AU
110
Palmerston, AU
69
Kensington, AU
68
Chicago, US
21
Armidale, AU
18
John T. Waterhouse Herbariumlocation not on record
11
Parkville, AU
8
NSW Office of Environment and Heritagelocation not on record
7
Hobart, AU
7
Kew, GB
5
BGPAlocation not on record
4
NSW Dept of Planning, Industry and Environmentlocation not on record
4
Zürich, CH
4
Auckland, NZ
4
Smithfield, AU
4
Riverside, US
3
LDlocation not on record
3
BClocation not on record
3
Stockholm, SE
3
EL PASO, US
3
MeiseBGlocation not on record
2
Austin, US
2
Dresden, DE
2
Wellington, NZ
2
Tampa, US
1
Chapel Hill, US
1
Taipei, TW
1
James Cook Townsvillelocation not on record
1
US
1
Davis, US
1
Claremont, US
1
Bronx, US
1
MAlocation not on record
1
Provincia di Livornolocation not on record
1
St. Paul, US
1
University of Stellenboschlocation not on record
1
San Diego, US
1
Saint Louis, US
1
San Jose State University, Museum of Birds and Mammalslocation not on record
1
Burlington, US
1
South Kensington, GB
1
University of Hamburglocation not on record
1
46 institutions · 1 215 of 1 260 vouchered records shown · 45 without an institution code
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
09Environmental DNA3 detections
Where the DNA of Marsilea drummondii was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Detections DNA found3
Studies independent surveys1
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 3 detections have coordinates
Open the map0 countries0
How strong is each trace?
DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation3 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility10 086 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI3 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics3 specimens↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinesequences↗
GRIN TaxonomyUSDA-ARSdistribution & uses↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
CCDBChromosome Counts DB · Tel Aviv U.genome & karyotype↗