Not a member of the Water-lily family, but related to Bogbean. It is easily by the fact that its yellow flowers have a frayed appearance to the petal margins. The flowers themselves are smaller than those of Yellow water-lily. The leaves are normally oval in appearance with a shiny appearance from above, sometimes with purple spots, and purple below.

Freshwater habitats in fairly shallow water including canals, ponds and slow moving streams.

June to September.

Perennial. Only native in certain areas of Britain, possibly established elsewhere by discarded pieces removed from garden ponds that have become established.

Scattered records from throughout the British Isles. It is particularly widespread in the north west where it carpets large expanses of the Leeds and Liverpool canal, and in the south east of England.

Not common in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 5 of the 617 tetrads.