Commodities Affected:
Aquatics

Threat:

Water hyacinth is a free floating aquatic plant that has invaded aquatic areas throughout the eastern and southern portions of the United States. Water hyacinth invades lakes, ponds, rivers, marshes, and other types of wetland habitats. It reproduces chiefly by vegetative means and can form dense floating mats of vegetation. These dense mats restrict light to the underwater environment, reduce the light availability for submersed plants and aquatic mollusk, and deplete the oxygen levels. Water hyacinth is native to South America and was first introduced as an ornamental into the United States in 1884 at the Cotton States Exposition in New Orleans.

Distribution:

Water hyacinth is not known to occur naturally in Indiana.