Q. An aquatic plant introduced from America to check pollution turned out to be a troublesome weed in Indian water bodies. The name of this ‘invasive alien species’ is :
Answer: Eichhornia
Notes: Eichhornia crassipes, commonly known as Common Water Hyacinth, is an aquatic plant native to the Amazon basin, and is often considered a highly problematic invasive species outside its native range. The plant was introduced by Belgian colonists to Rwanda to beautify their holdings and then advanced by natural means to Lake Victoria where it was first sighted in 1988. There, without any natural enemies, it has become an ecological plague, suffocating the lake, diminishing the fish reservoir, and hurting the local economies.