Lovely plant, isn't it? But don't plant the crested floating heart (Nymphoides cristata) in your water garden or in anyone else's. Yes, it's marketed as a water lily, but, according to the Weed Science Society of America (WSSA), it has highly invasive characteristics and is disrupting hydropower production, natural ecosystems and water activities such as boating, swimming and fishing.
It is a particular problem in cypress swamps and lakes in Florida and it's now made its way into Lake Marion in South Carolina, balooning in just two years from a 20 acre to a 6000 acre infestation. The plant was introduced to the United States, like many others, from Asia.
Ken Langeland of the University of Florida's Center for Aquatic and Invasive Plants says that despite the fact that the plant is dangerous, it is still "readily available online and through local garden stores."
A major problem is that the plant reproduces vegetatively from tubers, daughter plants, rhizomes and small fragments and it can be spread by boats and trailers that pick up parts of the plant from the water and shorelines, by wind and by flowing water. So far, herbicides have not been effective against crested floating heart.
Some might also easily confuse it with little floating heart (Nymphoides cordata) or big floating heart (Nymphoides aquatica) both U.S. native plants that are not invasive. So if you're set on floating hearts, make sure you buy the right one!
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