Javanese sometimes cook and eat the green parts and inflorescence. In Africa, fresh plants are used as cushions in canoes and to plug holes in charcoal sacks. Chinese cultivate the water hyacinth in fish ponds as pig fodder, the pig manure recycled into the fish pond. Fish taken from the manured pond are transferred to clean tanks and fed more wholesome food before human consumption. It is strange to me that this pantropical weed has acquired such a small medicinal folklore.
Fresh plants contain prickly crystals.
Leaves usually with inflated spongy petioles, the leaf blades circular to reniform, 4-12 cm wide. Germplasm Reported from the South American Center Of Diversity, waterhyacinth, or cvs thereof, is reported to tolerate grazing and waterlogging. Distribution Native to Brazil, now growing in most tropical and subtropical countries. Cultivation Apparently harvesting is more critical than cultivation. Seeds can tolerate submersion or desication for 15 years and still germinate.