In marshes, bogs and lake margins, this erect perennial is frequently found spreading on calcareous, wet ground. As it creeps - rooting at each node as it touches the damp soil - it produces pale pink flowers (12–15 mm) which have three ragged-edge, well-separated petals and are usually borne solitarily. Towards the centre of the flower, the petals turn from pink, through white, to deep yellow and they surround numerous carpels. The long narrow leaves are mostly basal. Flowering from June to August, the plant barely reaches over 20 cm high. It is native to Ireland and belongs to the Alismataceae family.
My first record for this wildflower was in Lough Derg, County Tipperary in 1981 and I photographed it near Nurney, County Kildare in 2010. I am grateful to Dr Declan Doogue, BSBI Vice-county Recorder for County Kildare for confirming my identification.
If you are satisfied you have correctly identified this plant, please submit your sighting to the National Biodiversity Data Centre
