crecimiento y potencial reproductivo de la bora ( eichhornia crassipes (mart.) solms) ( ponteder i acea e ) en algunas lagunas de la planicie de inundaciÓn del tramo medio, rÍo orinoco, venezuela i growth and reproductive potential of water hyacinth ( eichhornia crassipes (mart.) solms) (pontederiaceae) in some lagoons at floodplain of the middle orinoco river, venezuela

The water hyacinth ( Eichhornia crassipes ) grows naturally in some floodplains of the middle Orinoco River. Its widespread distribution and biomass is causing a great impact in the towns near these lentic ecosystems. The vegetative growth, floral biology and fecundity of E. crassipes were determined in the Castillero, Teja and Tejita lagoons near Caicara del Orinoco, from January to July 2005, during the dry season. Plants were placed at initial density of five rosettes in floating baskets in the floodplains and the number of daughter plants (g. m -2 ) and dry biomass m-2 were determined at fifteen, thirty, sixty and ninety days after seeding. The number of plants with and without flowers or fructified were counted in areas of the lagoons with the highest flowering intensity. The spatial distribution of stamens in relation to the stigma were observed in order to determine the presence of heterostyly. The number of water hyacinth plants and weight can double in an average of 20 and 24 days, respectively. The fastest growth rate (rossettes m -2 ) was found in January and February while the major growth rate in dry weight m-2 was recorded in February-May. It is frequent to find inflorescences in the dry season and occasionally in the wet season. From the kinds of heterostityly only plants with mesostyle flowers were found . The reproduction of water hyacinth is mainly vegetative and seeds are scarcely found in the capsules