Mitch,
For the most part this is very dry reading but should answer your question.
From Perdue University:
Excerpts
Dried and cleansed plants, can be used as fertilizer, poultry feed, additives to cattle-feed, and plant mulch.
Wilted water hyacinth, mixed with earth, cow dung, and woodashes in the Chinese compost fashion, can yield compost in two months.
The plant has been used for cigar wrappers and, as a mushroom growing medium (Holm et al., 1977) but seems unsatisfactory for paper and pulp. Said to be used as a carotene-rich table vegetable in Formosa. Javanese sometimes cook and eat the green parts and inflorescence.
http://tinyurl.com/yveb9
Maybe the state of Florida should have learned to use this stuff as food or mulch instead of loading up the waterways with herbicides. Sounds like you're sitting on a mulch, compost and fertilizer goldmine, not to mention the veggie part of it.
