It is the only recognized species in the genus Luronium, native to western and central Europe, from Spain to Britain to Norway east to Ukraine.

[8][9] The stoloniferous habit is an important distinguishing feature, and the unusual shape of the floating leaves, which are rounded at the tips and tend to taper gradually into the stem, is also helpful.

It is widely distributed in western and central Europe, with confirmed records from Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom.

Records from Bulgaria, Italy, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary, Lithuania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania,[14] Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Austria, the Transcarpathian region of Ukraine and Transylvania either are doubtful or are unconfirmed.

[9][11] Lake populations predominantly occur on silty or peaty substrates,[17] growing at depths up to at least 3.5 m.[18] In deeper water it reproduces vegetatively by stolons or production of cleistogamous seed.

[8] Riverine populations in France and Denmark are associated with natural river-floodplain systems where new oxbow lakes are constantly being created by erosion and deposition.

[21][20] The ecology of floating water-plantain in ponds is not well understood, but generally it seems to require broadly low nutrient, soft water situations with some disturbance, such as lowland heathland pools subject to grazing by livestock.

[25] In the Netherlands, restoration of floating water-plantain and other threatened freshwater plants has been successfully achieved by removing the organic sediment layer and reducing inputs of calcium-rich surface water.

[26]It is said to have "spread eastwards from its core natural habitats in the lakes of Snowdonia and mid Wales in the 19th century, taking advantage of the canal network.