Skip to main content

Water hyacinth

Weed Habitat 

  • Native to South America, Water hyacinth was introduced to Australia as an aquatic ornamental. It has a high growth rate and can quickly form thick mats on the water surface of static or slow flowing fresh water such as dams, streams, lagoons, and drains.
  • Reproduces by seed, but mainly through the vegetative production of daughter plants on stolons.

Description 

  • An erect or horizontal free-floating, occasionally rooted in shallow water, perennial water weed to 60 cm high.
  • Fibrous, feather-like root system, trailing freely in the water and growing up to 1 m long.
  • Dark-green, smooth, fleshy leaves in a rosette on bulbous stems.
  • Flowers are bluish-purple with 6 petals, the upper one with a yellow blotch in the centre carried in spikes about 15 cm long on stalks arising from the middle of rosettes.
  • Fruit is narrow 3-celled capsule about 1 to 1.5 cm long, containing up to 300 seeds.

Eichhornia crassipesEichhornia crassipesEichhornia crassipesEichhornia crassipesEichhornia crassipes

Share

Plant Type

Leaf Arrangement

Other weed identifiers

Plant Life Cycle

Weed Declaration

This species is declared Restricted Matter under the Biosecurity Act 2014 for further information on declaration refer to your Local Government or the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries

Weed Spread