Water Hyacinth
Eichhornia crassipes
Floating on and rooting in muck at margins of Lake Baringo, Rift Valley, Kiserian, Kenya, Africa. October 2016.
The beautiful flowers and ease of propogation encouraged early travelers to transport this aquatic plant from its original home in South America to warm rivers and lakes on every continent. The result has been quite a disaster as the plants proliferate uncontrollably. Only by introducing some of the plant's natural enemies (mostly insects) is headway being made. Water bodies can be completely covered over cutting of light and oxygen, thus causing the death of fish and making navigation by boat impossible.