WATER HYACINTH - THE STUNNINGLY BEAUTIFUL HEAVENLY DEVIL FLOWER

Half way between Tel Aviv and Haifa, near the town of Natanya, there is a small swamp. Its slopes are overgrown with dense thickets, thistles and brushwood, it is very hard to climb down to it. Three weeks ago my husband tried to reach it. Our dog Dafi was with him and he realized after some minutes that this would be much too hard on her, she is not young any more. Of course she would have followed him faithfully, nevertheless he took pity on her and returned home. But down there in that stretch of quagmire happens to bloom a miracle flower in recent weeks, which left him no peace. He had heard about it, and he had gotten a glimpse of it the first time, and now he wanted to go back there with his camera and bring proof of this beauty home. 

So a week later off he went again, this time without the dog. He somehow mastered the descent. Luckily he had taken my hiking stick from the car with him, which saved him from a wet slip. He just went step after step and when the stick suddenly went deeper down into plain water, he just stopped, stood still and photographed. He came home scratched and bruised, but look how worthwhile it was!

Those are absolute marvelous,  gorgeous,  outstanding plants,  floating on the water, their blossoms big like a fist, growing on a fat stem, the delicate petals in very light purple color, adorned with dark purple patterns and lines, and with a yellow dot. The leaves are heavy and fleshy. It is said the growth gets so compact that a person could walk on it. My husband did not try this!

Water Hyacinth - Eichhornia crassipes - yakinton ha maim, יקינטון המים in Hebrew - yes it is very pretty! But why did I call it a devil flower? It belongs to the group of invasive plants, and wherever it invades there is no going back to normal habitat. It is native to the Amazon basin in South America, and was brought to Africa because of its beauty. It has become a real plague in this continent. Since the sixties of last century it has spread over large regions of the Nile and causes serious problems. It claimed as well territory in Lake Victoria and is reported to be a big nuisance in Ethiopia, and in other countries of the world, including Australia. It threatens the Eco system and is very difficult to control and destroy. It grows very fast, it can double its population in two weeks.

If you have a pond in your garden - ahhhhhhh no, don't dare! Don't get lured by this adorable beauty, it will overgrow and destroy your pond in no time!

Water Hyacinth had occupied areas in the Yarkon River here in Israel sixty years ago and was fought vehemently and destroyed by the nature authorities. Today it can be found in isolated small swamps and is watched very carefully.

All photos taken by Uri Eshkar, please zoom in to get the full benefit!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_hyacinth