Close, but it wasn't introduced by a ponder. It was purposely introduced to
clear up the water back in the 1880's. Another theory is that it was
brought back from the Cottom Exposition in LA during a fair in 1885 and put
them in the St. Johns River. Ponders adopted it for the same reasons it was
imported: for it's ability to filter water. However, it's a monster
unleashed in open water systems. Basically, in the State of FL, it's illegal
to even *own* the plant without a permit. However, if it "is" owned,
responsible disposal is a MUST. Regardless of how they got here, they cause
a lot of problems. Florida has a lot of plants that were introduced by
well-meaning folks looking for a "slice of home", but 99 times out of 100,
they become MAJOR problems.
Lee
http://aquat1.ifas.ufl.edu/hyacin2.html
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/lands/inv...%20pubs/hyacin
th.pdf
http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/wq/pl...s/aqua010.html
"Harriett Wright" wrote in message
...
Hi Ken et al
My home state of Florida has had a similar problem, now fairly well under
control to the tune of about a million bucks a year. The story goes that
they were deliberately introduced by someone who had way too many in his
pond, so he dumped the excess into a local waterway, somehow failing to
equate their exponential growth in his pond to what would happen in the
wild. They quickly spread to every body of water in the state, becomming
a
major hazard to navigation. I remember, as a child, looking at my
cousin's
rowboat, out of reach in the middle of an inlet packed from bank to bank
with hyacinths. I understand that water hyacinths are a big problem in
many
tropical and subtropical parts of the world. Pretty as they are, I can't
stand the sight of them. Except for one tropical waterlily, I use only
indigenous plants in my pond.
Harriett
"KenCo" wrote in message
...
Craig Cagle wrote:
Hi all. I just watched a special program on National Geographic
channel
about how water hyacinth is taking over Lake Victoria in Africa. They
said
it doubles in area every 14 days! Apparently there is so much of it
fishermen get stranded in it for days and must be rescued. It's
messing
up
the ecosystem there as well as keeping people from making their only
means
of income. And to think I wanted to put some in my pond this
spring...
Craig
and now for the rest of the story 
1st, Lake Victoria is about the size of NY state!
a resort hotel brought the WH in to clean the water
so people could swim in clear water BUT! then the WH
started taking over.
the resort hotel now brings in a fish to eat the WH,
the Nile perch (3'+ adult) and only worries about
being eaten by Nile Crocodiles.
the Nile perch now decides that the WH isnt as good to
eat as the local cichlids, haps. etc. and decimated
the indigenous fish population to near extinction 
the only survivors were the smaller types that could
hide in the rocky areas.
a captive breeding program was started in the early 70's
to replace the near extinct fish but wasnt nearly enough
to restock the ind. species
--
http://www.kencofish.com Ken Arnold,
401-781-9642 cell 401-225-0556
Importer/Exporter of Goldfish,Koi,rare Predators
Shipping to legal states/countries only!
Permalon liners, Oase & Supreme Pondmaster pumps
Please Note: No trees or animals were harmed in the
sending of this contaminant free message We do concede
that a signicant number of electrons may have been
inconvenienced.