Water hyacinth

The water hyacinth is an invasive plant in the Nile basin that originates in South America. Once introduced into the Nile River system, it expanded quickly, threatening the stability of local fishing businesses, impeding boat movement in afflicted regions, and interfering with hydroelectric power generation.

Water hyacinth, one of the fastest-growing plants, reproduces mostly by runners or stolons, which eventually generate daughter plants. Each plant may also generate thousands of seeds every year, and these seeds can live for more than 28 years. Water hyacinths (Pontederia crassipes) grow quickly, and mats can double in size in one to two weeks. They are claimed to increase by more than a hundredfold in plant count rather than size in a matter of 23 days. In their native range, these flowers are pollinated by long-tongued bees, and they can reproduce both sexually and clonally. The invasiveness of the hyacinth is related to its ability to clone itself, and large patches are likely to all be part of the same genetic form.