To find this little plant, you really have to risk getting wet feet. Its favoured habitats are damp ditches, marshes, fens and bogs. It is an erect perennial reaching 60 cm high with a round, unridged stem. From July to August, it bears pale pink or white 4-petalled flowers (4-7 mm). The flowers, which have club-shaped stigmas, are held horizontally or drooping slightly. The hairless, linear-lanceolate leaves are untoothed and in opposite pairs. This plant is stoloniferous, that is to say it rises from creeping stems and these stolons develop small bulbs at their tips. These bulbs can break off in autumn and float to new ground where they may form fresh plants. This is a native plant and it belongs to the Onagraceae family.
I first recorded and photographed this plant in Bohernabreena, County Dublin in 2011 when it was pointed out to me by botanist, Paul Green.
If you are satisfied you have correctly identified this plant, please submit your sighting to the National Biodiversity Data Centre
