water hyacinth
• noun
A free-floating perennial aquatic plant of the pickerelweed family (Pontederiaceae, especially Pontederia crassipes, formerly Eichhornia crassipes), native to tropical South America, having bulbous, spongy leafstalks and showy spikes of pale violet or blue six-petaled flowers marked with a yellow spot on the upper petal.
"The ornamental pond was brightened by a cluster of blooming water hyacinths with delicate lavender-blue flowers."
This fast-growing aquatic plant considered collectively as a dense, mat-forming invasive weed that chokes tropical and subtropical waterways, depletes dissolved oxygen, and impedes navigation.
"Local environmental agencies deployed mechanical harvesters to clear the thick mats of water hyacinth blocking the river channel."
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