University of California
That scourge we call water hyacinth is apparently worse than normal this year, as anyone who’s been to the Stockton waterfront lately can attest. (Full story in print and online Thursday.)
A colleague suggested he’d like to beat some sense into whoever brought it here.
Well, according to this Department of Boating and Waterways document, hycainth — which is native to the Amazon region — was brought to the U.S. for the 1884 Cotton States Exposition in Louisiana. Unfortunately, samples were given out to visitors, and someone dumped it in the drink.
By 1904 hyacinth had shown up in a Yolo County slough. By the late 1940s it was in the Delta. The rest is history.
So there you go. The perpetrators are long-time; no justice for my fellow scribe.
Of course, there are plenty of other exotics to worry about…
