Common water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes)

Enceng gondok or common water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) is a free-floating perennial aquatic plant species in Pontederiaceae, sometimes rooted in the soil, has no stem and has a high growth rate and easily spreads through waterways in tropical and sub-tropical regions.

E. crassipes has wide, thick, shiny, ovoid leaves that can rise above the surface of water as high as 1 meter. The leaves extend to 10-20 cm on stems that float with a bulb to float above the water surface, long stems, sponges and rounded.

Fibrous roots, free of hanging and purple-black. The upright stalk supports a single flower, most of which is mauve to pink with six petals. Grows in tropical to subtropical deserts or warm temperate desert to the rainforest zone, minimum temperature 12-35C and pH 5.0-7.5.

Azotobacter chroococcum as a nitrogen-fixing bacterium is concentrated around the base of the petiole, but does not repair nitrogen unless the plant suffers from extreme nitrogen deficiency. Fresh plants contain prickly crystals, HCN, alkaloids, triterpenoids and can cause itching.

Common water hyacinth is one of the fastest growing plants, reproducing mainly through stolons which eventually form buds. Each plant can also produce thousands of seeds every year and these seeds can last more than 28 years.

The flowers are pollinated by long-tongued bees and can reproduce both sexually and clonally. The level of invasive and the ability to clone oneself and most of the spots tend to be part of the same genetic form.

Enceng gondok grow in shallow ponds, wet and swampy soil, slow flow of water, lakes, water reservoirs and rivers. This plant can adapt to extreme changes in water levels, currents and changes in nutrient availability, pH, temperature and toxins in water.

Rapid growth is mainly caused by water containing high nutrients, especially rich in nitrogen, phosphate and potassium. Salt content can inhibit growth where these plants will increase throughout the rainy season and decrease when the salt content rises in the dry season.

E. crassipes is widely regarded as a weed that increases evapotranspiration which has broad leaves and rapid growth, decreases the intensity of light into the waters which causes dissolved oxygens and dead plants will descend to the bottom of the waters which accelerates silting.

These plants also often disrupt water transportation, especially for people still dependent on rivers, increase habitat for human disease vectors and reduce the aesthetic value of the aquatic environment.

Even so many people use E. crassipes for paper making materials, compost, biogas, furniture, handicrafts, as a growth medium for straw mushrooms etc.

Common water hyacinth also plays a role in capturing heavy metal pollutants including cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg), and nickel (Ni) respectively 1.35 mg/g, 1.77 mg/g, and 1.16 mg/g. They also absorb chromium (Cr) up to 51.85 percent at pH 7. Also able to absorb pesticide residues.

Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Clade: Commelinids
Order: Commelinales
Family: Pontederiaceae
Genus: Eichhornia
Species: E. crassipes

Comments

Sweet inga (Pithecellobium dulce)

Asem londo or blackbead or guamúchil or sweet inga or Inga javana (Pithecellobium dulce) are species of flowering plants in Fabaceae, have many branches, irregular canopy, always green, 10-15 m high, thorny stems, drought and dry soil resistant at altitude up to 1,500 m.

P. dulce has compound leaves, 4-10 cm panicle stems, 7.5 mm leaf stalks, asymmetrical ovate leaves with pointed to round edges, double pinnate bones, shiny dark green on the top surface, light green on the bottom surface, 1.5-3.5x1-2 cm and not hairy.

Greenish-white flowers in panicles containing 1520 items, fragrant and 12 cm long but appear shorter because of the circular, smooth hair and 1-2 cm long stems. The petals are tubular and 1.5 mm long, the crown is tubular and 3.5 mm long. White flower stalks.

Flowers produce green pods that turn pink and black when ripe and open to release pink or white aryl, sweet and edible. The pods are flat, curled and 1 cm wide. Aryl contains asymmetrical flat seeds, shiny black, 9x7…

Pucung (Dysdercus poecilus)

Pucung or cotton stainer or red cotton bugs (Dysdercus poecilus) are animal species in Pyrrhocoridae, winged insects, dimorphism for sex where women have larger size but are the same for shape and color as males, social life in large communities in host plants.

D. poecilus has three pairs of long black legs with three segments and a pair of very long black antennas with four segments on the head on the left and right. The head is dark red, a pair of black eyes and a narrow neck with white and black transverse lines.

Dorsal has red and black colors. The upper back has a black equilateral triangle with a pointed angle downwards. The middle back has a black transverse line and is connected by a long black triangle to the tip of the rounded buttocks.

Ventral has a black color with white and alternating stripes. The six thighs are dark red and the buttocks are pink. Males are smaller in size and have fewer ventral lines.

Pucung lives in a large community and is willing to share a place with…

Twoleaf nightshade (Solanum diphyllum)

Twoleaf nightshade (Solanum diphyllum) is a species of plants in Solanaceae, upright shrubs grow in shade, 1-2 m tall, rounded stems, dense, green-purple brown, short hairy, stopping cells, cornered young twigs and widely cultivated as plants decorate with bright yellow ripe fruit.

S. diphyllum has leaves that are alternating, solitary or paired in twigs with generative organs. Some are stemmed for 1-1.5 cm. The leaves are oval to oblique round eggs, dynamic base, flat or wavy edges, tapered or rounded edges, 1-14.5 cm long, 0.5-4 cm wide and have short hair.

Flowers facing leaves 5-25 mm long. Has a 2 mm handle, brownish purple, straight and unbranched. Hook 5-10 mm, greenish to brown and curved. The petals have five ears, resembling kupula, pale green, 1-5 mm long and short haired.

Flowers have five crowns, coincide, star-shaped, yellowish white, 2-5 mm long. Has five stamens, free and facing the crown. Short and yellowish green pistil. The stigma is yellow, attached to the base and …

Soursop (Annona muricata)

Sirsak or soursop (Annona muricata) is a plant species in Annonaceae, a small tree, growing upright to a height of 10 m, stem diameter of 10-30 cm and young branches are hairy, evergreen, edible fruit and have a sour or sweet taste to some varieties.

A. muricata has long to oval leaves, 8-16 cm long and 3-7 cm wide, dark green and shiny without hair on the upper side, paler and hairless on the lower side. Petiole has a length of 4-13 mm and without hair.

The flower stalks are 2-5 mm long and woody, appear opposite to the leaves or in addition to near the petioles, each with one or two flowers each. The stems of each flower are woody, smooth or hairless and 15-20 mm long with small bractlets closer to the base of thick hairy.

The outer petals are thick and yellowish, meet at the edges without overlapping and are broadly ovoid, 2.8-3.3 cm with 2.1-2.5 cm, tapering to a point with a heart-shaped base, thick and covered with long hair, sleek, externally soft and silky tangle with soft hair…

Mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana)

Manggis or mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana) is a tropical plant species in Clusiaceae, up to 25 m tall, thick exocarp, bright green and turns reddish purple after ripe with 1-2 large seeds and edible white mesocarp layers.

G. mangostana produces sweet, pungent, watery, slightly fibrous fruits with vesicles filled with liquid, mesocarp surrounding each almond-shaped and large-sized seeds. The resulting bundle seeds are basically asexual embryos.

Mangosteen is obligate apomixis where seeds do not originate from fertilization and are thought to have a narrow genetic diversity, It is estimated that only one clone in nature and has the same properties as its parent. Diversity may be due to environmental and genetic factors due to natural mutations in line with the history of the mangosteen.

Young fruit does not require fertilization to grow, pale green or white under the canopy. The fruit enlarges for 2 to 3 months and then turns dark green with growth in size increasing in diameter from 6-…

Dlium

Search This Blog