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Abstract
Eichhornia crassipes, Water Hyacinth is a fast growing aquatic perennial native to South America. They are known for their potential to grow in highly polluted water, exhibits foliar plasticity making it adaptable to all climatic and environmental conditions . They are rich in oxidative enzyme and non enzymatic antioxidants. Having low lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose are more easily converted to fermentable sugar thus resulting in enormous amount of utilisable biomass for biofuel industry besides its other applications which ranges from the field of biofuels, pharmaceuticals, cosmeceuticals, material and phyto remediation. Besides the drastic losses offered to the biodiversity, it possess a great future in fuelling our future economy. Being a great source of biomass they are widely accepted as a source of green fuel. In this study it discusses about the growth factors of water hyacinth, chemical composition of the plant, problems faced in the current scenario, various control measures, phytochemicals present in the plant, pharmacological applications, it's edibility, possibilities to be used in waste water treatment, fuel production and materialistic applications.