Jal Kumbhi / Common Water Hyacinth
Pontederia crassipes
- Found in India
- Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra & more
How to identify Jal Kumbhi
Identify Jal Kumbhi by combining habit, leaf characters, flower or fruit details, location, and its family pattern. Do not rely on one feature alone.
- Check the distinctive field mark: Free-floating with inflated bulbous leaf stalks and lavender flowers (water hyacinth).
- Confirm leaf shape: Ovate.
- Confirm flower colour: Pink.
- Confirm flower arrangement: Spike.
- In India, compare location records such as Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, West Bengal and nearby regions.
- Confirm it sits within the Pontederiaceae family pattern, then compare close relatives before deciding it is Jal Kumbhi.
Plant Details
- Scientific name
- Pontederia crassipes
- Genus
- Pontederia
- Family
- Pontederiaceae
- Found in India
- Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Assam, Karnataka, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Delhi, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Bihar, Arunachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Tripura, Puducherry, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Meghalaya, Sikkim
- Conservation status
- Not Evaluated (NE)
Leaf characters
- Leaf shape
- OvaterecordedEgg-shaped, broader near the base.“With broad, thick, glossy, ovate leaves, water hyacinth may rise above the surface of the water as much as 1 m (3 ft) in height.” — Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Characters marked “recorded” are for Jal Kumbhi itself; the rest are typical of the Pontederiaceae family.
Flower & fruit characters
- Flower colour
- Pinkrecorded“An erect stalk supports a single spike of 8–15 conspicuously attractive flowers, mostly lavender to pink in colour with six petals.” — Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Flower arrangement
- SpikerecordedFlowers arranged directly on a central stem without individual stalks.“An erect stalk supports a single spike of 8–15 conspicuously attractive flowers, mostly lavender to pink in colour with six petals.” — Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Characters marked “recorded” are for Jal Kumbhi itself; the rest are typical of the Pontederiaceae family — flowering plants only.
Local Names
- Hindi
- जल कुम्भी Jal Kumbhi
- Kannada
- antara taavare, antaragange
- Manipuri
- ꯀꯕꯣꯛꯀꯥꯡ Kabokkang, ꯀꯕꯣꯀꯥꯡ Kabokang
- Mizo
- Dum-awr-puar
- Nepali
- जल कुम्भी Jal Kumbhee
- Sanskrit
- जल कुम्भी Jalakumbhi, Variparni
- Tamil
- Venkayattamarai
- Telugu
- Budaga tamara, Gurra pudekka moka
About Jal Kumbhi
Common water hyacinth (Pontederia crassipes) belongs to the Pontederiaceae family. In India it has been recorded in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and 26 other states.
Uses
It is grown for parts that are eaten, cut for timber and furniture and stripped for fibre used in rope and matting. Parts of this plant are reported as poisonous — treat it as unsafe to eat and wash your hands after handling.
Pontederiaceae
Pickerel-Weed Family
Jal Kumbhi belongs to the Pontederiaceae family.
The illustration represents the family — not necessarily this exact species.
Explore the Pontederiaceae familySnap it. Know it.
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Common plant problems
If you are starting from symptoms instead of a diagnosis, use the plant disease symptom checker to narrow the cause before treating.
All plant problem & care guides