Aquilegia formosa
| Aquilegia formosa | |
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| File:Aquilegia formosa 6742.JPG | |
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A. formosa
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| Binomial name | |
| Aquilegia formosa |
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Aquilegia formosa (crimson columbine, western columbine, or (ambiguously) "red columbine") is a common and attractive wildflower native to western North America, from Alaska to Baja California, and eastward to Montana and Wyoming.
Description
The Aquilegia formosa plant 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. Technically, the red or orange spreading outer parts of the flower are sepals, and the yellow inner parts are the true petals. The petals bear spurs that attract the plant's pollinators, the sphinx moths. Hummingbirds are also attracted to it in gardens.
The flowers are edible, with a sweet taste—though the seeds can be fatal if eaten, and most parts of the plant contain cyanogenic glycosides.[1]
Distribution
Within its range, the crimson columbine can be found in most kinds of habitat (chaparral, oak woodland, mixed-evergreen or coniferous forest). It is not found on desert floors, nor at altitudes above 3300 metres, and it is absent from the Central Valley of California. It prefers moist locations such as stream banks.
Native American use
Some Plateau Indian tribes used the Aquilegia formosa to concoct a perfume.[2] It is also used medicinally by several Native American tribes.[3]
Notes
External links
Media related to Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. at Wikimedia Commons
- Calflora Database: Aquilegia formosa (western columbine, crimson columbine)
- Jepson Manual eFlora (TJM2) treatment of Aquilegia formosa
- USDA Plants Profile for Aquilegia formosa (western columbine)
- UC Photos gallery — Aquilegia formosa
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- Pages with broken file links
- Aquilegia
- 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 (U.S.)
- Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands
- Plants used in traditional Native American medicine
- Garden plants of North America
- Butterfly food plants
- Flowers
- Ranunculales stubs
