Pontederia crassipes Mart.

Pontederia crassipes is a floating aquatic plant with very showy purplish blue flowers. It is widespread as a wild plant in all subtropical areas of the world.

Leaves are thick, waxy, rounded, and glossy and rise well above the water surface on stalks. The leaves are broadly ovate to circular, 10-20 cm in diameter, with gently incurved, often undulate sides. Leaf veins are dense, numerous, fine and longitudinal. Leaf stalks are bulbous and spongy. The stalk is erect, to 50 cm long, and carries at the top a single spike of 8-15 showy flowers. The flowers have six petals, purplish blue or lavender to pinkish, the uppermost petal with a yellow, blue-bordered central splotch. Water hyacinth reproduces vegetatively by short runner stems (stolons) that radiate from the base of the plant to form daughter plants, and also reproduces by seed. Its roots are purplish black and feathery.

Native to: Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Bolivia, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Chile Central, Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela.

Introduced into: Alabama, Andaman Is., Angola, Arizona, Aruba, Assam, Azores, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Borneo, Burkina, Burundi, California, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Provinces, Caroline Is., Cayman Is., Central African Repu, China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, Colorado, Comoros, Congo, Cook Is., Corse, Costa Rica, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Dominican Republic, East Himalaya, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Fiji, Florida, France, Free State, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gulf States, Hainan, Haiti, Hawaii, Honduras, Illinois, India, Italy, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Japan, Jawa, Kentucky, Kenya, Korea, KwaZulu-Natal, Laos, Lebanon-Syria, Leeward Is., Liberia, Louisiana, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaya, Maldives, Mali, Marianas, Marquesas, Marshall Is., Mauritius, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Mississippi, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands Antilles, New Caledonia, New Guinea, New South Wales, New York, New Zealand North, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norfolk Is., North Carolina, Northern Provinces, Northern Territory, Oman, Ontario, Palestine, Panamá, Philippines, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Queensland, Rodrigues, Rwanda, Réunion, Samoa, Sardegna, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sicilia, Sierra Leone, Society Is., Solomon Is., South Australia, South Carolina, South China Sea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sumatera, Swaziland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Texas, Thailand, Togo, Trinidad-Tobago, Turkey, Uganda, Vanuatu, Victoria, Vietnam, Virginia, Western Australia, Windward Is., Yemen, Zambia, Zaïre, Zimbabwe.