Sold widely for ponds, water features, and aquariums for its attractive purple flowers and glossy leaves, water hyacinth is genuinely one of India’s most damaging invasive aquatic plants. It reproduces astonishingly fast, forming dense mats that choke lakes and rivers across the country, from Bengaluru’s urban lakes to Kerala’s backwaters, blocking sunlight from reaching aquatic life below, depleting oxygen levels as it decomposes, and even obstructing boats and drainage systems. What looks like a harmless decorative pond plant can escape into local waterways with alarming speed, and once established, it’s notoriously difficult to fully remove.