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The Rabbit of the Plant Kingdom

© Jojo Sigurgeirson

It has been estimated that if one small water hyacinth found the appropriate nutrition in our open waterways, it could carpet all the seas of the earth within two years. It is the rabbit of the plant kingdom, and its explosions of population have caused it to block ports, canals, and other waterways in the Phillipines, to which it has been introduced, and in tropical America, where it is native. It has concealed buoys, and clogged ships pumps and propellors.

Invasive Non-indigenous Plants in Florida - Water Hyacinth

Currently, an outbreak of water hyacinth is endangering the ecology of Lake Victoria, which forms a large open border between the countries of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. The natural diversity of the entire lake is at risk, as well as the fishing industry, which largely supports coastal regions of all three countries. It forms characteristic circles of growth, sometimes more than 250 feet across. Each large growth disc can be easily hauled by a small boat to land, where, though it's nutritional value is small, it is used as cattle fodder. It is also beginning to be exploited for its high cellulose content, in the manufacure of paper products. Perhaps more importantly, it has recently been shown that it can clear contaminated waters of poisonous and polluting substances. According to the Trans-Pacific Nursery catalog from McMinnville, Oregon, it also serves as great fodder for your Manatee.

Its Latin name is Eichhornia crassipedes, and is commonly sold in nurseries which stock water plants. In a pond, it provides a mass of fine roots for goldfish and koi to spawn into. The flowers are very showy, the whole flower being a light purple, but with the upper lobe being marked by a yellow-centered blue patch. They are hardy only to about 0 degrees Celsius and so must be either treated as annuals or brought indoors into an indoor aquarium over the winter. If grown in warmer climes, it must be kept contained and, for obvious reasons, out of open waterways. For lots more information, visit Bonnie at the link below. She has all kinds of information on overwintering, pests of Water Hyacinths and more!

Bonnie's Plant Pages - Water Hyacinth

"Night has fallen around the boat, as abruptly as a curtain being drawn. The neon lights on deck attract moths, and two searchlights from the wheelhouse above us pierce the darkness. They dart back and forth like eyes, from the left bank to the right bank, occasionally resting on a dugout slicing through the smooth water. Islets of purple water hyacinths drift past. The hyacinths were brought here from America in the 1950's by a Protestant minister, for his pond, but they ended up in the river and have been growing at an alarming rate ever since. Often they get tangled in the propellors of the boats and the Zairians speak of them with awe and fear: the tough plants could cover the suface of the water completely, making the interior permanantly inaccessible."