View source for Marsileaceae

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| name = ''Marsileaceae''
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| color = IndianRed
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| regnum = Plantae
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| familia = Marsileaceae
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Marsileaceae (from the genus Marsilea, in honor of Giavanni Marsigli, or Aloysius Marsili, Italian naturalists.) Marsilea Family. Fig. 3. Perennial marsh or aquatic plants with filiform and creeping rhizomes: leaves all from rootstocks, circinate; rachis without blade or with four leaflets borne together at the apex; leaflets, when present, fan-shaped, rounded at apex; veins dichotomous: sporangia of two sorts, macro-sporangia bearing macrospores which give rise to egg-cells, and microsporangia bearing microspores which give rise to sperm-cells, both borne together in tiny chambers (sori) in globular capsule-like conceptacles (sporocarps) which arise from the rootstock or lower portion of the leaf, and are either stalked or sessile: male and female prothallia very much reduced, remaining inclosed within the spore-wall, which in the case of the macrospores early becomes ruptured on one side to expose the archegonia.

Two genera (Marsilea and Pilularia) and about 60 species occur, of which 52 or 54 belong to Marsilea. The distribution is general, though mainly tropical. Marsilea is represented in the United States by one native and one introduced species. The family is closely related to the Salviniaceae, but the peculiar habit and unusual sporocarps are distinctive.

At maturity, a gelatinous mass escapes from the sporocarp, and on this mass the sori are borne in somewhat characteristic fashion in different species. The leaflets of the clover-like leaves of Marsilea, in emersed forms, show sleep movement, as do those of clover. These leaflets float upon the water to the varying depths of which the petioles accommodate themselves; but the plant may grow emersed on mud, in which case the petioles are erect like clover. The leaves of Pilularia are filiform, pointed, and destitute of blade.

In Australia, the sporocarps of Marsilea Nardu and M. Drummondii, which contain much starch and other nutritious material, are used by the natives for food. They are ground into a powder, mixed with water and baked. Fish and marsilea "fruits" form almost the sole food of some tribes.

One species, Marsilea quadrifolia, is in cultivation in America for aquatic gardens.{{SCH}}
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