Pipewort is an interesting perennial water plant. The flowers are whitish and button-like; they are held well above the water and are often damp and glistening. The narrow and translucent leaves grow in a totally submerged rosette. The plant is found in shallow, still water on peaty soil. It is native to the west of Ireland in shallow lakes from Donegal southward to Kerry, but is only really prolific in Connemara. The enthusiastic and meticulous botanist, Dr Walter Wade, Professor of Botany to the Dublin Society, discovered the plant there in 1801; he was delighted to find such numbers of this unusual species which, he claimed, had only been seen before on the Isle of Skye.
The flowers appear in July and August.
Pipewort is unknown on the continent of Europe and in Britain except in a small part of the West Highlands of Scotland. There is an identical, or closely related, plant in North America.