Question

Write the name of any rootless free floating aquatic plant.

Answer 1

Hint: Pontederia crassipes, commonly known as common water hyacinth, is an aquatic plant native to the Amazon basin. It is an invasive species outside its native range. They are native to tropical and subtropical South America.

Complete Answer:
- Water hyacinth is a rootless free-floating aquatic plant. It has broad, thick, glossy, ovate leaves, and may rise above the surface of the water as much as 1 meter (3 feet) in height. The leaves are 10–20 cm across on a stem which is floating by means of buoyant bulb-like nodules at its base above the water surface. They possess spongy and bulbous stalks.
- Flowers are large and conspicuous, mostly lavender to pink in colour with six petals. It is one of the fastest-growing plants known and can double in size in one to two weeks. In terms of plant count, they are said to multiply by more than a hundredfold in number, in a span of 23 days.
- In their native range, these flowers are pollinated by long-tongued bees and they can reproduce both sexually and clonally. The invasiveness of the hyacinth is related to its ability to clone itself and large patches are likely to all be part of the same genetic form.
- These plants have abundant nitrogen content and can be used for biogas production. However, due to easy accumulation of toxins, the plant is prone to get contaminated when used as feed.
- They are also tolerant and can uptake a large amount of heavy metals, like cadmium, chromium, nickel, lead, cobalt, and mercury, which makes them suitable for the biocleaning of industrial wastewater.
- As they are invasive, if not controlled, they cover the lakes and ponds and affect the water flow and blocks sunlight from reaching other native plants.

Note: Water hyacinth is very popular for its easy maintenance and beautiful blooms. Other free-floating aquatic plants include water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes), Neptunia aquatica, moneywort, etc. Water hyacinth shows hydrophytic adaptations such as reduced epidermis cells without cuticles and presence of large air spaces.