34 romance of low life amongst plants. 



Nardoo. 



There is a melancholy interest connected with 

 the Nardoo plant of Australia, on account of its 

 association with the unfortunate explorers who were 

 starved on the homeward journey, after traversing 

 the continent of Australia. The passage occurs in 

 Wills's " Diary," where reference is made to the 

 party falling in with some blacks who were fishing. 

 " They gave us some half a dozen fish each for 

 luncheon, and intimated that if we would go to their 

 camp we should have some more, and some bread. 

 On our arrival at the camp, they led us to a spot to 

 camp on, and soon afterwards brought a lot of fish 

 and bread, which they called nardoo. In the evening 

 various members of the tribe came down with lumps 

 of nardoo, and handfuls offish, until we were positively 

 unable to eat any more." ^ The plant from which 

 this substance was procured has been determined as 

 a species of Marsilea, a genus allied to the ferns, the 

 sporocarps, or fruits, of which are pounded into a kind 

 of flour. Some of the fruits were brought away by 

 Mr. King, the survivor of the party. 



About forty species of Marsilea are known, and 

 this one has had several names applied to it, having 

 settled down, at length, to Marsilea Dnumnojidi. 

 They hardly resemble ferns in appearance, and the 

 present is almost aquatic. The petiole of the fronds, 

 or leaves, is about six inches long, and slender, 

 crowned with a four-leaved frond, like a trefoil with 



' Andrew Jackson, " Account of the Expedition " (Smith and Elder, 

 S862) ; " On the Nardoo Plant," F. Currey, Seejii, Jotirn. Bot. (1S63), 

 i. 161. 



