The Invasive Water Hyacinth Blooming on Lake Houston — Images by kenne
These beautiful blossoms photographed near the water’s edge on Lake Houston belong to the water hyacinth, one of the most productive plants on earth and is considered the world’s worst aquatic plant. By forming a dense floating mat on the water surface, they interfere with navigation, recreation, irrigation, and power generation impeding water flow, creating good breeding conditions for mosquitoes.. These thick mats create low oxygen conditions beneath the water surface excluding native submersed and floating-leaved plants. Water hyacinths can become a severe environmental and economic problem for gulf coast states and in many other areas of the world with a sub-tropical or tropical climate, rapidly spreading throughout inland and coastal freshwater bays, lakes, and marshes.
kenne
