Water hyacinth

Erect, emergent, free-floating, stoloniferous aquatic perennial to 1 m high; roots black to purple, feathery, to 1 m long. Stolons root at nodes to form daughter plants.

Leaves all basal; stalk spongy, often inflated and buoyant, to 75 cm long, up to 3 cm diam.; blade flat, circular to ovate, to 25 cm diam., apiculate, with numerous longitudinal veins, margins gently incurved and often slightly undulate.