''Aquilegia formosa'', the crimson columbine, western columbine, or (ambiguously) "red columbine", is a common

wildflower A wildflower (or wild flower) is a flower that grows in the wild, rather than being intentionally seeded or planted. The term implies that the plant is neither a hybrid nor a selected cultivar that is any different from the native plant, eve ...

native to western

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, from

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, and eastward to

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

and

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

Description

''Aquilegia formosa'' is a perennial herb that grows to 20–80 cm in height, averaging around 60 cm. Flowers, which can be seen from April to August (with some variation between regions), are about 5 cm long and red and yellow in color. The sepals and petal spurs are typically a reddish-orange color, attributed to the anthocyanin pigments pelargonidin and cyanidin, and carotenoids. Petal blades are yellow, pigmented by carotenoids. The primary pollinators are hummingbirds, although bees, butterflies, and flies will also visit flowers. Despite several floral adaptations to hummingbird pollination, at ~9,000-10,000 feet in elevation in the eastern drainages of the central Sierra Nevada mountains of California, ''A. formosa'' forms hybrid zones with ''Aquilegia pubescens'', which is primarily pollinated by hawk moths. The flowers are edible, with a sweet taste—though the seeds can be fatal if eaten, and most parts of the plant contain

cyanogenic glycoside In chemistry, a glycoside is a molecule in which a sugar is bound to another functional group via a glycosidic bond. Glycosides play numerous important roles in living organisms. Many plants store chemicals in the form of inactive glycosides. ...

Distribution

Within its range, the crimson columbine can be found in most kinds of habitat (

chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant plant community, community found primarily in California, southern Oregon, and northern Baja California. It is shaped by a Mediterranean climate (mild wet winters and hot dry summers) and infrequent, high-intens ...

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

woodland, mixed-evergreen or

conifer Conifers () are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a sin ...

ous forest). It is not found on desert floors, nor at altitudes above 3300 metres, and it is absent from the Central Valley of

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. It prefers moist locations such as stream banks.

Native American use

Some

Plateau Indian Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau, also referred to by the phrase Indigenous peoples of the Plateau, and historically called the Plateau Indians (though comprising many groups) are Indigenous peoples of the Interior of British Columbi ...

tribes used the ''Aquilegia formosa'' to concoct a perfume. It is also used medicinally by several Native American tribes.

Etymology

''Aquilegia'' is derived from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

word 'aquila', meaning 'eagle', or possibly from the

Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

words 'Acheleia' or 'Akelei'; this name is in reference to its talon-like nectaries. ''Formosa'' means 'handsome', 'beautiful', or 'well-formed'.Gledhill, David (2008). "The Names of Plants". Cambridge University Press. (hardback), (paperback). pp 53, 169

References

External links

*
Calflora Database: ''Aquilegia formosa'' (western columbine, crimson columbine)

Jepson Manual eFlora (TJM2) treatment of ''Aquilegia formosa''

UC Photos gallery — ''Aquilegia formosa''
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formosa Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The island of Taiwan, formerly known to Westerners as Formosa, has an area of and makes up 99% of the land under ROC control. It lies about across the Taiwan Strait f ...

Flora of the Northwestern United States Flora of Western Canada Flora of Alaska Flora of Baja California Flora of California Flora of the Great Basin Flora of the Rocky Mountains Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Plants used in traditional Native American medicine Garden plants of North America Butterfly food plants Flora without expected TNC conservation status Taxa named by Friedrich Ernst Ludwig von Fischer Taxa named by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle Plants described in 1824