Its native range includes parts of Great Britain, France, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Kazakhstan.

[3][4] Damasonium alisma is native to the British Isles and was at one time commonly found in south and central England.

[7] Seeds from the (extinct) Headley Heath population were germinated in undisturbed ponds managed by Surrey Wildlife Trust in 2013, and have grown there each year since (at least up to 2018).

It once grew in many English counties from Sussex north to Shropshire, but by 1900 was reduced to two ponds in Buckinghamshire and one in Surrey.

It requires open, well-lit, shallow water to grow in and regularly churned-up mud for its seeds to germinate.