Skip to main content

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.

Dlium Common water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes)

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
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular

Kewu Plain

The Kewu Plain or Prambanan Plain is a fertile volcanic plain stretching between the southern slopes of Mount Merapi and north-west of the Sewu Mountains . This plain is now included in Sleman Regency in Yogyakarta Province and Klaten Regency in Central Java Province, Indonesia. The Kewu Plain was the seat of the Medang Empire during the 8th century AD to the 10th century AD and the Mataram Sultanate in the 16th century AD. For more than a thousand years this region played an important role in the history of ancient Indonesia and had many important historical relics. If each temple is counted, the Javanese period in the 9th century has produced thousands of Hindu and Buddhist temples spread from the Dieng Plateau, Kedu Plain, to the Kewu Plain in the early history of Indonesia. The area is very rich in monuments where many archeological sites are only a few kilometers away, even some Hindu and Buddhist sites are only a few meters away. The Prambanan Plain is the center of impor
3 comments
Read more

Redflower ragleaf (Crassocephalum crepidioides)

Sintrong or ebolo or thickhead or redflower ragleaf ( Crassocephalum crepidioides ) are plant species in Asteraceae, terma height 25-100 cm, white fibrous roots, generally grow wild on the roadside, yard gardens or abandoned lands at altitude 200- 2500 m. C. crepidioides has erect or horizontal stems along the soil surface, vascular, soft, non-woody, shallow grooves, green, rough surface and short white hair, aromatic fragrance when squeezed. Petiole is spread on stems, tubular and eared. Single leaf, spread out, green, 8-20 cm long, 3-6 cm wide, longitudinal or round inverted eggshell with a narrow base along the stalk. Pointed tip, flat-edged or curved to pinnate, jagged rough and pointed. The top leaves are smaller and often sit. Compound flowers grow throughout the year in humps that are arranged in terminal flat panicles and androgynous. Green cuffs with orange-brown to brick-red tips, cylindrical for 13-16 mm long and 5-6 mm wide. The crown is yellow with a brownish red
1 comment
Read more

Guinea grass (Panicum maximum)

Guinea grass or buffalo grass or green panic ( Panicum maximum ) is a plant species in Poaceae, annual grasses, growing upright to form clumps, strong, cultivated in all tropical and subtropical regions for very high value as fodder. P. maximum reproduces in very large pols, fibrous roots penetrate into the soil, upright stems, green, 1-1.5 m tall and have smooth cavities for diameters up to 2.5 mm. Propagation is done vegetatively and generatively. Ribbon-shaped leaves with a pointed tip, very many, built in lines, green, 40-105 cm long, 10-30 mm wide, erect, branched, a white linear bone, often covered with a layer of white wax, rough surface by hair short, dense and spread. The flower grows at the end of a long and upright stalk, open with the main axis length to more than 25 cm and the length of the bunches down to 20 cm. Grains have a size of 3x4 mm and oval. Seeds have a length of 2.25-2.50 mm and each 1 kg contains 1.2 - 1.5 million seeds. Guinea grass has two varieties. P
Post a Comment
Read more