Water hyacinth, Eichhornia crassipes is a floating, invasive non-native plant commonly encountered as dense mats in Florida freshwater habitats.Several features make E. crassipes easy to recognize, including rosettes of rounded and leathery, waxy, glossy green leaves attached to thick, spongy (often bulbous or inflated for floatation) petioles (stalks), dark feathery roots that typically hang suspended in the water below the floating plant, and attractive lavender flowers when the plants are in bloom. The inflorescence is a distinct aerial spike growing to 30 cm, the flowers have six stamens, and the fruit is a 3-chambered seed capsule.

One of the fastest growing plants known, water hyacinth reproduces primarily by way of runners or stolons, which eventually form daughter plants. Each plant additionally can produce thousands of seeds each year, and these seeds can remain viable for more than 28 years. Some water hyacinths were found to grow between 2 and 5 metres a day in some sites in Southeast Asia. The common water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) are vigorous growers and mats can double in size in two weeks.