Flora of North America species comparison

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Aquilegia coerulea

Colorado blue columbine
Stems

15-80 cm.
Basal leaves

(1-)2(-3)×-ternately compound, 9-37 cm, much shorter than stems;

leaflets green adaxially, to 13-42(-61) mm, not viscid;

primary petiolules (10-)20-70 mm (leaflets not crowded), glabrous or occasionally pilose.
Flowers

erect;

sepals perpendicular to floral axis, white, blue, or sometimes pink, elliptic-ovate to lance-ovate, 26-51 × 8-23 mm, apex obtuse to acute or acuminate;

petals: spurs white, blue, or sometimes pink, straight, ± parallel or divergent, 28-72 mm, slender, evenly tapered from base, blades white, oblong or spatulate, 13-28 × 5-14 mm;

stamens 13-24 mm.
Follicles

20-30 mm;

beak 8-12 mm.

Aquilegia coerulea
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CO; ID; MT; NM; NV; UT; WY; Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
Discussion

Varieties 4 (4 in the flora).

Aquilegia coerulea shows considerable geographic variation in flower color and in size of different floral organs, reflecting adaptation to different pollinators in different parts of its range (R. B. Miller 1981). Four weakly differentiated varieties are recognized.

Aquilegia coerulea var. coerulea and A. coerulea var. ochroleuca intergrade to some extent; northwestern populations of var. coerulea often contain individuals with pale flowers, and eastern populations of var. ochroleuca often contain blue-flowered plants.

The Gosivte tribe chewed the seeds of Aquilegia coerulea or used an infusion made from the roots to treat abdominal pains or as a panacea (D. E. Moerman 1986).

Most authors have spelled the epithet "caerulea"; "coerulea" is the original spelling.

Columbine (as Aquilegia caerulea) is the state flower of Colorado.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Petal blades 13–17 mm.
var. alpina
1. Petal blades 19–28 mm.
→ 2
2. Sepals medium to deep blue.
var. coerulea
2. Sepals white, pale blue, or pink.
→ 3
3. Spurs 36–54 mm (means of populations 40–48 mm); stamens 13–18 mm; Utah to Nevada, Montana.
var. ochroleuca
3. Spurs 45–72 mm (means of populations 50–58 mm); stamens 18–24 mm; Utah, Arizona.
var. pinetorum
Source FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Ranunculaceae > Aquilegia
Sibling taxa
A. barnebyi, A. brevistyla, A. canadensis, A. chaplinei, A. chrysantha, A. desertorum, A. elegantula, A. eximia, A. flavescens, A. formosa, A. hinckleyana, A. jonesii, A. laramiensis, A. longissima, A. micrantha, A. pubescens, A. saximontana, A. scopulorum, A. shockleyi, A. vulgaris
Subordinate taxa
A. coerulea var. alpina, A. coerulea var. coerulea, A. coerulea var. ochroleuca, A. coerulea var. pinetorum
Name authority E. James: Account Exped. Pittsburgh 2: 15. (1823)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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