Water Hyacinth
Eichhornia crassipes
Aquatic Plants Difficulty: Very Easy
📖 About this plant
A striking floating water plant with inflated bulbous leaf stalks and attractive lavender-blue flowers with yellow markings. One of the most beautiful floating plants, but also one of the most invasive aquatic species on Earth. Its rapid growth doubles biomass in under 2 weeks, making it excellent for water purification but devastating to natural waterways.
🧑🌾 Care requirements
☀️
Light
Full sun (6-8 hrs)
💧
Water
Floats freely on water surface
💨
Humidity
N/A (fully aquatic)
🌡️
Temperature
18-30°C
🪴
Soil
None required — free-floating on water surface
🧪
Fertilizer
Absorbs nutrients from water, thrives in nutrient-rich conditions without supplementation
🌐 Common Names
HI
Hindi
जलकुंभी
BN
Bengali
জলকুম্ভী
MR
Marathi
जलकुंबी
TE
Telugu
జల హయాసింథ్
TA
Tamil
தண்ணீர் ஹயாசிந்த்
GU
Gujarati
જલ કુંભી
UR
Urdu
جل کمبھی
KN
Kannada
ಜಲ ಹೈಸಿಂಥ್
OR
Odia
ଜଳ ହାଇସିନ୍ଥ୍
ML
Malayalam
വാട്ടർ ഹയാസിന്ത്
PA
Punjabi
ਜਲ ਕੁੰਭੀ
AS
Assamese
জল কুম্ভী
📋 Plant facts
- 🌍 Origin
- Amazon River Basin, South America — now invasive worldwide
- 📏 Max height
- 30-100 cm above water, 50+ cm root length below
- 📐 Spread
- 30-90 cm
- 🕰️ Bloom time
- Spring - Fall
- 🎨 Bloom color
- Lavender, Blue
- 🍃 Foliage color
- Green
- ⏳ Lifespan
- Perennial
- 📈 Growth rate
- Very Fast
- ☠️ Toxicity
- Non-toxic to fish, sap may irritate skin in sensitive individuals
- 🌱 Propagation
- Stolon division — mother plants produce daughter plants on short stolons
🛡️ Health & Safety
🐾 Pet safe
✅ Non-toxic
Non-toxic to fish, sap may irritate skin in sensitive individuals
Common issues
- Extremely invasive — illegal in many regions
- Clogging waterways and drainage systems
- Mosquito breeding in trapped water among roots
- Dying off in cold temperatures below 10°C
💡 Care tips
- One of the fastest-growing plants in the world
- Floats on water surface with bulbous air-filled stems
- Helps filter and oxygenate pond water naturally
- Invasive in warm climates so never release into wild waterways
🪴 Add to My Plants
One click — added instantly. Watering every 7 days, fertilizing every 30 days.
