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water hyacinth
(redirected from Water hyacinths)

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.09 sec.
water hyacinth: see pickerelweed pickerelweed, common name for the Pontederiaceae, a family of chiefly tropical perennial aquatic herbs found in freshwater. The pickerelweeds (genus Pontederia) range north into temperate regions, including most of the E United States and Canada.
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water hyacinth

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Common water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes)
(credit: W.H. Hodge)
Any of about five species of aquatic plants that make up the genus Eichhornia of the pickerelweed family (Pontederiaceae). They are native mainly to the New World tropics. Some species float in shallow water; others are rooted in muddy streambanks and lakeshores. All have slender rootstocks, feathery roots, rosettes of stalked leaves, and flowers arranged in spikes or clusters. The common water hyacinth (E. crassipes) is the most widespread. The leafstalk is spongy and inflated, and the upper lobes of its purple flowers have blue and yellow markings. It reproduces quickly, often clogging slow-flowing streams. It is used as an ornamental in outdoor pools and aquariums.



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But they had stopped short of trying to use plants to filter the element out of the water: So Katie decided to see if water hyacinths could decontaminate poisoned water:
The well-known water hyacinths float like balloons along the surface of a pond or fountain and then surprise us with their showy spikes of big blue, purple and yellow flowers.
On one bank, five elephants stroll single-file to the water's edge, where they snatch up lilac-plumed water hyacinths with their weathered trunks, then flop with a quiet thud onto the riverbank's soft mud.
 
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