Question

Why is Eichhornia crassipes labeled as an invasive species?

Answer 1

Hint: Eichhornia crassipes is commonly known as the water hyacinth. It is an aquatic flowering plant. Moreover, invasive species is defined as a species that is introduced in an area either intentionally or accidentally where it is not naturally occurring either and it causes environmental harm.

Complete answer: Water hyacinth is very commonly known as the terror of Bengal. It was introduced in India by the Britishers or the Europeans because of the beautiful flowers and the shape of the leaves. However, water hyacinth turned out to be a highly invasive weed plant. It was found growing in the standing water and slowly it spread to all the water bodies in West Bengal. After that, it spread to several wetlands throughout India. The water hyacinth clogged the water bodies and drained the oxygen from the water. This led to the death of the aquatic flora and fauna. Due to this reason, it is labeled as an invasive species. Moreover, it starved the people of Bengal too. This is because their main source of food is fish. And the growth of water hyacinth eradicated fishes causing food scarcity that led people to starve and die.

Note: It is very difficult to get rid of water hyacinth. This is because its natural predator is absent in India. Moreover, water hyacinth can reproduce by vegetative propagation also. This means it can propagate vegetatively by offsets, which are short horizontal branches having a cluster of leaves at the top and roots at the bottom. Breaking of offsets help in the propagation.