Musky Trout Hatcheries LLC.
279 Bloomsbury Road • Asbury, NJ 08802 • Warren County
ph: 908•479•4893    fax: 908•479•4855   •   musky279@yahoo.com

 

 

WATER HYACINTH

Water hyacinth is a free floating plant, which grows up to three feet in height. It has thick, waxy, rounded, glossy leaves, which rise well above the water surface on stalks. The leaves are broadly ovate to circular, 4 to 8 inches in diameter, with gently incurved sides, often undulate. Leaf veins are dense, numerous, fine and longitudinal. Water hyacinth leaf stalks are bulbous and spongy. Water hyacinth grows an erect thick stalk (to 20 inches long) at the top of which is a single spike of several (8 to 15) showy flowers. The flowers have 6 petals, purplish blue or lavender to pinkish, the upper petals with yellow, blue-bordered central splotches. 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.

Water lettuce is a free-floating plant with many spongy, dusty green simple leaves. The leaves are covered in very fine hairs and arranged in a spiral pattern from the center of the plant. The leaves are 1 to 6 inches wide and have large veins running their length. The flowers are seldom seen. Water lettuce is a very aggressive invader and can form thick floating mats. If these mats cover the entire surface of the pond they can cause oxygen depletions and fish kills. Water lettuce should be controlled so they do not cover the entire pond. Submerged portions of all aquatic plants provide habitats for many micro and macro invertebrates. These invertebrates in turn are used as food by fish and other wildlife species (e.g. amphibians, reptiles, ducks, etc.). After aquatic plants die, their decomposition by bacteria and fungi provides food (called "detritus") for many aquatic invertebrates.