J^"-'1 Lees, What is Nardoo? fi-i 



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WHAT IS NARDOO? 

 By E. H. Lees, C.E., F.R.A.S. 



(Read before the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, 14th Dec, T914.) 



The recent anniversary of the departure of the Burke and 

 Wills expedition imparts special interest to this question, as 

 Nardoo will ever be associated with its sad fate. 



In an article in the Atistralasian some little time ago, under 

 the heading of "The Explorer — Dietary Experiences," by Mr. 

 E. J. Welch, the subject is but slightly referred to, and, in view 

 of the uncertainty as to whether the plant Marsilea quadrifolia, 

 Lin., common to swampy places throughout Victoria, is the 

 " Nardoo " used by the Burke and Wills expedition, Mr. 

 Welch, as a member of the Howitt relief party, was com- 

 municated with. In reply he distinctl}^ asserted the identity 

 of this Marsilea with the true Nardoo {Vict. Nat., xxvii., p. 16). 



From my own experiences with the Central Australian 

 aborigines in Lake Eyre and Cooper's Creek district, I submit 

 that this statement is not wholly accurate. 



In regard to the Marsilea, it belongs to an order, MarsileacecB, 

 possessing only two genera, Pilularia (Pillworts) and Marsilea. 

 The simplicity in order, however, is not continued in the genus, 

 for Marsilea exhibits unusual variability even for cryptogamic 

 species, and the desirability of uniting these was pointed out 

 long ago by Baron von Mueller. 



Examination of the plant, in various localities, evidences 

 extraordinary variation. Hence also diversity of synonyms — 

 M. quadrifolia, M. Brownii, M. angustifolia, M. hirsuta, M. 

 Drummondi, M. macropus — different authorities claiming each 

 to be the true Nardoo or clover fern. 



Without discussing the variations of this very variously 

 named plant, they may be summed up into two kinds — smooth 

 and hairy-leaved. Marsilea quadrifolia belongs to the former ; 

 Marsilea hirsuta, as the name implies, to the latter. And this 

 is Nardoo of the interior. It is a small creeping plant with 

 filiform leaves, bean-shaped fruit (sporocarp) springing from the 

 axils of the leaves. It produces no true seeds, but the fertile 

 fronds (involucres) bear spore cases of two kinds, and these are 

 collected by the natives and crushed between two stones into 

 meal or flour. The lower stone is long and flat, with slight 

 hollow, forming channel to the edge. The smaller stone is held 

 in the right hand, and is used as a pestle, the tap-tap of the 

 operation being audible for some distance. 



In grinding, water is mixed to provide porridge or paste, 

 according to the desired menu, the former running out by the 

 channel into a piece of bark or wooden bowl. The paste is 

 baked, and the porridge scooped up with crooked fore-finger, 

 used as a spoon. 



