Eichhornia

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Water hyacinth
Common Water hyacinth.jpg
Common water hyacinth ( Pontederia crassipes )
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Clade: Commelinids
Order: Commelinales
Family: Pontederiaceae
Genus: Eichhornia
Kunth
Species

Four species (from Pellegrini et al. 2018) [1] :
Eichhornia azurea - Anchored water hyacinth
Eichhornia diversifolia - Variableleaf water hyacinth
Eichhornia heterosperma
Eichhornia natans

Contents

Eichhornia, commonly called water hyacinths, was a polyphyletic genus of the aquatic flowering plants family Pontederiaceae. Since it was consistently recovered in three independent lineages, it has been sunk into Pontederia , together with Monochoria . Each of the three lineages is currently recognized as subgenera in Pontederia:

Pontederia subg. Eichhornia is pantropical, centered in South America but with P. natans being endemic to continental Africa and Madagascar. The other three species are restricted to the Neotropics.

It was named in honour of Friedrich Eichhorn  [ de ], an early-19th-century Prussian minister of education. [2]

Description

Its species are perennial aquatic plants (or hydrophytes) with prostrate and densely branched stems. The inflorescences can have one to 30 conspicuously attractive flowers, mostly lavender to pink in colour, rarely white.

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Water caltrop Genus of flowering plants

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Pontederiaceae Family of aquatic plants

Pontederiaceae is a family of flowering plants.

<i>Pontederia</i> Genus of aquatic plants

Pontederia is a genus of tristylous aquatic plants, members of which are commonly known as pickerel weeds. Pontederia is endemic to the Americas, distributed from Canada to Argentina, where it is found in shallow water or on mud. The genus was named by Linnaeus in honour of the Italian botanist Giulio Pontedera.

The mottled water hyacinth weevil, Neochetina eichhorniae, is a beetle that has been introduced as a biological pest control herbivore agent to waterways and lakes in countries worldwide to control the spread of the invasive noxious weed species Eichhornia crassipes, the water hyacinth, an aquatic plant native to the Amazon basin.

<i>Neochetina</i> Genus of beetles

Neochetina is a genus of weevils known as water hyacinth weevil which are native to South America.

<i>Eichhornia crassipes</i> Aquatic plant native to the Amazon basin

Pontederia crassipes - commonly known as common water hyacinth, - is an aquatic plant native to the Amazon basin, and is often a highly problematic invasive species outside its native range. It is the sole species of Pontederia subg. Oshunae.

<i>Pontederia cordata</i> Species of aquatic plant

Pontederia cordata, common name pickerelweed (USA) or pickerel weed (UK), is a monocotyledonous aquatic plant native to the American continents. It grows in a variety of wetlands, including pond and lake margins across an extremely large range from eastern Canada south to Argentina. A few examples include northern rivers, the Everglades and Louisiana.

Harike Wetland Largest wetland in northern India

Harike Wetland also known as "Hari-ke-Pattan", with the Harike Lake in the deeper part of it, is the largest wetland in northern India in the border of Tarn Taran Sahib district and Ferozepur district of the Punjab state in India.

Eccritotarsus catarinensis is a species of plant bug from Santa Catarina, Brazil. It is a sap-feeding mirid that removes a considerable amount of chlorophyll from water hyacinth.

<i>Pontederia azurea</i> Species of aquatic plant

Pontederia azurea is a water hyacinth from the Americas, sometimes known as anchored water hyacinth. It is the type species of Pontederia subg. Eichhornia, which was previously recognized as part of the polyphyletic genus Eichhornia. It is of some interest as an aquarium plant.

Water hyacinth in Lake Victoria

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<i>Limnobium laevigatum</i> Species of aquatic plant

Limnobium laevigatum is a floating aquatic plant, and is a member of the family Hydrocharitaceae. Common names include West Indian spongeplant, South American spongeplant and Amazon or smooth frogbit. This plant was introduced to North American waterways through use in aquariums and aquascapes.

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Monochoria Genus of flowering plants

Monochoria was originally a genus of aquatic plants in the water hyacinth family, Pontederiaceae. Currently, it has been reduced to a subgenus of Pontederia, Pontederia subg. Monochoria, represented by ten species. Its species are native to tropical and subtropical Africa, Asia, and Oceania. They live in the water or in wet soils. They produce leaves on long petioles and some are cultivated for their attractive flowers.

<i>Potamogeton berchtoldii</i> Species of plant

Potamogeton berchtoldii, common name small pondweed is an aquatic plant.

Cornops aquaticum is a semiaquatic species of grasshopper native to the Neotropics, from southern Mexico south to central Argentina and Uruguay. It feeds and breeds exclusively on members of the aquatic plant family Pontederiaceae, especially water hyacinth, and is being investigated as a possible biological pest control agent for the water hyacinth in countries where that plant is invasive.

References

  1. Pellegrini, M. O. O.; Horn, C. N. & Alemida, R. F. (2018). "Total evidence phylogeny of Pontederiaceae (Commelinales) sheds light on the necessity of its recircumscription and synopsis of Pontederia L." PhytoKeys (108): 25–83. doi: 10.3897/phytokeys.108.27652 . PMC   6160854 . PMID   30275733.
  2. Umberto Quattrocchi (19 April 2016). CRC World Dictionary of Medicinal and Poisonous Plants. CRC Press. p. 1524. ISBN   978-1-4822-5064-0. Named after Johann Albrecht Friedrich Eichhorn, [...] a Prussian minister of education and public welfare, court advisor