| Water hyacinth | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Common water hyacinth (Pontederia crassipes) | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Clade: | Commelinids |
| Order: | Commelinales |
| Family: | Pontederiaceae |
| Genus: | Eichhornia Kunth |
| Species | |
Four species (from Pellegrini et al. 2018):[1] | |
Eichhornia, commonly calledwater hyacinths, was apolyphyletic genus of the aquaticflowering plants familyPontederiaceae. Since it was consistently recovered in three independent lineages, it has beensunk intoPontederia, together withMonochoria. Each of the three lineages is currently recognized as subgenera inPontederia:
Pontederia subg.Eichhornia is pantropical, centered inSouth America but withP. natans being endemic to continentalAfrica andMadagascar. The other three species are restricted to theNeotropics.
It was named in honour ofFriedrich Eichhorn [de], an early-19th-centuryPrussian minister of education.[2]
Its species areperennialaquatic plants (or hydrophytes) with prostrate and densely branched stems. The inflorescences can have one to 30 conspicuously attractiveflowers, mostly lavender to pink in colour, rarely white.
Named after Johann Albrecht Friedrich Eichhorn, [...] a Prussian minister of education and public welfare, court advisor
Media related toEichhornia at Wikimedia Commons