''Eichhornia'', commonly called water hyacinths, was a
polyphyletic genus of the aquatic
flowering plants family
Pontederiaceae. Since it was consistently recovered in three independent lineages, it has been
sunk into ''
Pontederia'', together with ''
Monochoria
''Monochoria'' was originally a genus of aquatic plants in the water hyacinth family, Pontederiaceae. Currently, it has been reduced to a subgenus of Pontederia, ''Pontederia'' subg. ''Monochoria'', represented by ten species (listed below). Its ...
''. Each of the three lineages is currently recognized as subgenera in ''Pontederia'':
* ''Pontederia'' subg. ''Cabanisia'', which includes ''
P. meyeri'', ''
P. paniculata'' (the Brazilian water hyacinth), and ''
P. paradoxa''
* ''Pontederia'' subg. ''Oshunae'', which includes the common water hyacinth, ''
P. crassipes''
* ''Pontederia'' subg. ''Eichhornia'', which includes ''
P. azurea'', ''
P. diversifolia'', ''
P. heterosperma'', and ''
P. natans''
''Pontederia'' subg. ''Eichhornia'' is pantropical, centered in
South America but with ''
P. natans'' being endemic to continental
Africa and
Madagascar. The other three species are restricted to the
Neotropics.
It was named in honour of , an early-19th-century
Prussian minister of education.
Description
Its species are
perennial aquatic plant
Aquatic plants are plants that have adapted to living in aquatic environments (saltwater or freshwater). They are also referred to as hydrophytes or macrophytes to distinguish them from algae and other microphytes. A macrophyte is a plant that ...
s (or hydrophytes) with prostrate and densely branched stems. The inflorescences can have one to 30 conspicuously attractive
flowers, mostly lavender to pink in colour, rarely white.
References
External links
*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2144596
Freshwater plants
Pontederiaceae
Commelinales genera
Historically recognized angiosperm genera