Eichhornia
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| Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture |
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Eichhornia (after J. A. F. Eichhorn, a Prussian Minister, born 17791. Pontederiaceae. Tropical aquatic herbs, grown for showy flowers and interesting habit. Perennial, floating, rooting at the nodes: immersed lvs. on young sts. linear; emersed lvs. obovate or rounded (or rarely lanceolate), the petioles in some species much inflated and acting as buoys: fls. in a spike or panicle, the scape 1-lvd.; perianth funnel- shape with a long or short tube; stamens 6, attached unequally in the tube, part of them exserted; ovary sessile, 3-celled; style filiform: fr. a caps, contained in the withering perianth, ovoid to linear.—About a half- dozen species in S. Amer., one reaching Afr. This genus includes the water hyacinth (see Fig. 1384), the famous "million-dollar weed" that obstructs navigation in the St. John's River, Florida, and is a source of wonder and delight in every collection of tender aquatics in the North. The curious bladders made by the inflation of the petioles help the plant to float freely. About flowering time the plant sends down anchoring roots which, if the water be only 3 or 4 inches deep, penetrate the soil. The true hyacinths belong in an allied family (Liliaceae); the pickerel weed, in the allied genus Pontederia, the ovary of which by abortion is one-celled, and each cell one-ovuled, while Eichhornia is three-celled and many-ovuled. The plants of this family have been greatly confused botanically, partly because the fugacious, membranous flowers are not well preserved in dried specimens, and partly because of variation in form of leaves, depending upon whether the plants grow in deep or shallow water, or in mud. The common water Hyacinth sends out two kinds of roots, the horizontal ones often thick and fleshy, and apparently for reproductive purposes, the vertical ones long, slender, and clothed with innumerable small, horizontal fibers. The flowers are most beautiful, and the plant is worthy of special cultivation. It is often called a water- orchid, being of such delicate coloring and texture. The plants must be more or less stationary although it is a floating plant, for they will not flower when drifted about by any light breeze or where the water is 2 or more feet deep as is often the case where nymphaeas are grown. A depth of 9 to 12 inches of water is sufficient with a guard to keep the plants in bounds. Good soil underneath is necessary so that the plants will derive some nourishment. They will grow rapidly and flower profusely all through the season, and it may be necessary to thin out the plants, for when too crowded the petioles will become elongated and the plants unsightly. They can also be grown in a tub or tank observing the same method of culture. Propagated by division. (Wm. Tricker.) E. paniculata. Spreng. Fls. in a compound spike or panicle. 2- lipped, purple and blue and with large white spots: lvs. long- petioled, cordate-acuminate, without petiole bladders: st. 12-18 in., often several. B.M. 5020 (as E. tricolor). Wilhelm Miller. CH
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References
- Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963
External links
- w:Eichhornia. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
- Eichhornia QR Code (Size 50, 100, 200, 500)
