THE WATER PLANTAIN FAMILY (Alismataceae)
This is a family of flowering plants, comprising 11 genera and between 85-95 species. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, with the greatest number of species in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Most of the species are herbaceous, aquatic plants growing in marshes and ponds. Most Alimataceae are robust perennials, but some may be annual or perennial, depending on water conditions - they are normally perennial in permanent waters, annual in more seasonal conditions but there are exceptions.
The stems are corm-like or stoloniferous. Juvenile and submerse leaves are often linear, whilst more mature and emerse leaves can be linear to ovate or even sagittate. Most have a distinct petiole (leaf stem), with a sheathed base.
The inflorescence is usually compound with whorls of branches, though some are umbel-like, and others have solitary flowers. The flowers are regular, bisexual or unisexual. There are three sepals which usually persist in the fruit, three petals, usually conspicuous, white, pink or purple, occasionally with yellow or purple spots. The petals rarely last more than one day and may be tiny or even absent in the female flowers of some species. Stamens are 3, 6, 9 or numerous. The ovary is superior, comprising from 3 to numerous free carpels in one whorl or in a clustered head. Each carpel contains 1 (-2) ovules. The fruit is a head of nutlets (except in Damasonium, Starfruit).
(source: Wikipedia)
White
Yellow
Blue
Red
Other
• Backwater
• Marsh
• Damp Grasslands
•Scrub
• Cultivated Fields
• Wayside 
• Dry Grasslands
• Woodland
Rare and endangered flower species.
Grows in shallow water or on the marshy banks of stagnant or slow flowing waters, amongst beds of sedges, reeds and flag irises.
Hairless plant, fibrous root; basal , long stemmed leaves, 15–30 cm long, and triangular stem. Aerial leaves differ in appearance from submerged leaves (heterophylly), elliptical, narrowing towards the base, submerged ones smaller, strap-shaped.
Branched inflorescences bearing numerous small flowers arising in long-stemmed whorls form the greatest height of the plant. Flowers 1 cm across, with three round or slightly jagged, white or pale pink petals, yellow at the base, 3 blunt green sepals, and 6 stamens per flower, opening in the morning and wilting in the early afternoon, hence each flower in the inflorescence living for only a few hours. They are pollinated by insects that live around the water, typically those that have aquatic larval forms
The seeds are tiny achenes up to 2 or 3mm long, clustered into an aggregate fruit of about 20 units. They may float away after detaching from the parent plant or be dispersed on the feet of water birds.