water hyacinth in a bucket

I bought a single water hyacinth from Seapets and plonked it in my pond-in-a-bucket but it quickly became the pond bully - developing new "nodes", intimidating the other plants, blocking light from the pond weed - so I gave it its own bucket - interesting plant - has these air filled sacs to whit to float on - hasn't flowered yet though... not sure it will..

 

Eichhornia crassipes is a fascinating plant indeed. Native to the Amazon it has become invasive in parts of the US and in Africa. However, it is being looked at as a serious biomass crop for green energy production and it also has the ability to absorb pollutants from water, and it is also cultivated for treating waste water.
Beautiful flower too. Here is a photo of it that I took at Oxfords Botanic Gardens...................


I'm thinking about trying to grow it (along with water lilies) in a fish tank placed in a sunny spot next summer. Hopefully that may heat the water enough to make it bloom.