Osaka Brand Center

※1About the water lettuce plant
Called botan-ukikusa in Japanese, the plant belongs to the Araceae family and is not indigenous to Japan. The leaves are hollow inside, thus allowing them to float on the water, and their surface is densely covered with fine hairs that repel water. In recent years, the rapid spread of water lettuce in the Yodo River has become a serious issue. While they have become an obstacle to traveling boats, their dense growth also blocks the supply of sunlight and oxygen into the water, causing the death of fish and other underwater life. The photo on the right shows the growing clusters of water lettuce on the surface of the Yodo River. Currently, the only way to dispose of water lettuce is to simply burn it. In spite of efforts to find a way of turning the plant into food or fertilizer, no effective use of the plant has yet been discovered.