The common Water hycanith
(Eichhornia crassipes)
History and Origin The Water Hyacinth is a member of the pickelweed family. It is considered a tropical and sub-tropical plant. It originates from the Amazon basin in South America. The Water Hyacinth was first thought to be introduced into the United States in the years of 1884 & 1885 at the Worlds Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition in Louisiana. From here it was taken to Florida by a visitor and released into the St. JohnÕs River and has spread into neighboring states.
The Water Hyacinth is a very beautiful plant and is considered a perennial herb. The foliage is round, shinyand about 10 inches in diameter. The leaves are held upright and act like sails and the leaf stock is thick and spongy which helps to keep the plant buoyant. A mass of fine roots hang under the plant in the water. The flower can be as large as two to three inches in size and is a beautiful blue or purple/lilac in color with a yellow spot. The fruit is a three celled capsule that has many minute ribbed seeds. Water Hyacinth is sometimes confused with other water plants such as the Water Lettuce which looks similar, but differs because of itÕs tolerance to the colder climate.
The of the Water Hyacinth is a 14 day flowering cycle. The cycle ends when the flowering stock bends positioning the spike below the surface of the water. The seeds are then released. The seed capsule contains less than 50 seeds each. Each bud can produce more that 3,000 seeds and a single rosette can produce several inflorescences each year. The small, long-lived seeds sink and remain viable in sediments for 15-20 years. They usually sink and remain dormant until periods of stress (droughts). Upon re-flooding, the seeds often germinate and renew the growth cycle. 
Water Hyacinth in the United States is a very destructive plant and is considered on of the worst aquatic plants. The plant forms very dense mats that disrupts with navigation, recreation, irrigation and power generation. The dense mats reduce light to submerged native plants therefore reducing oxygen in the aquatic communities. When this happens the food chain (aquatic habitat) that depends on phytoplankton is depleted and all parts of the food chain are disrupted. The dense mats of floating Water Hyacinth impede water flow which causes good breeding conditions for mosquitoes which carries several different diseases and the foliage also protects the insects from pesticides. Since Water Hyacinth is a tropical plant it grows mostly in the southern states of the United States, Central America, Africa, India, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. It grows in a wide variety of wetlands from lake and streams to ditches and back water areas. They take their nutrients directly from the water. It prefers to grow most prolifically in nutrient rich waters. It takes the pollutants out of the water and is therefore very useful in waste water treatment facilities.
The water hyacinth originated from the Amazon Basin in Brazil. It thrived in the wetlands such as ponds, rivers and other aquatic bodies, but has also adapted to places out of its
native range like the United States, Africa, and Central America.I t is now an invasive species. The water hyacinth is a fresh water plant and cannot survive in places that get below
20 degrees Fahrenheit.Water hyacinth’s poses a danger to areas outside of it’s native South American site. The native wildlife habitat and local economy is being by the plant and doing
more harm than people anticipated.This plant has affected tourism in some places that relies on income from swimming and boating, by overcoming much of the water area near the
shore.They have also decreased the value of property that has a significant amount of water hyacinth on the water areas. Water hyacinth has become an even bigger problem in the
already overburdened Everglades National Park due to the existing evasive tree species to Burmese Pythons. The water hyacinth does incredible damage to the fish habitat also.
The water hyacinth forms such a thick mat that it is a haven for many undesirable insects, such as the mosquitoes which carry many diseases. It takes oxygen and nutrients out of the water which lessens the ability for the native plants to thrive.
The Federal and State governments are working on ways to control the water hyacinth. They are using mechanical chemicals and Biological methods. The mechanical method is to use boats with high powered lawn mower blades in attempt to cut the plants out of water ways.
They use assorted kinds of herbicides that are notorious for also damaging the reproduction of the native plants and could possible poison the wildlife that rely on the water for their source of drinking. Researchers have found a biological control in the form of the water hyacinth mite and the Xubida Infusellus (Lepidoptera Pyralidae.)
These bugs are some of the natural enemies of the water hyacinth. Like most biological controls, the wildlife officials have to be careful that the animals we bring in do not become evasive species themselves.
The water hyacinth comes from the Tropical and Subtropical moist, Broad Leaf Forest.(Amazon Basin)
bibliography
1) www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/aquatics/waterhyacinth.shtml
2) www. www.wapms.org/plants/hyacinth.htm
3)www.plants.usda.gov
Pictures provided by:
www.invasive.org/search/action.cfm?q=water%20hyacintres
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