1. Aquilegia canadensis L. (columbine, red columbine, wild honeysuckle)

Pl. 512 f, g; Map 2346

Plants perennial herbs. Stems 15–90 cm long, erect or arching, usually few-branched, glabrous or sparsely to moderately pubescent with fine spreading hairs. Leaves alternate and usually also in a basal rosette, short- to long-petiolate. Leaf blades twice ternately compound, the leaflets 17–52 mm long, ternately 1 or 2 times lobed or parted, glabrous or hairy, especially on the undersurface. Inflorescences of solitary flowers or open clusters or groups of up to 10 flowers at the branch tips. Flowers actinomorphic, pendant, perfect. Sepals 5, 8–18 mm long, 3–8 mm wide, spreading, plane, ovate to broadly ovate, red, sometimes green at the tip, not persistent at fruiting. Petals 5, consisting of a flat to somewhat cupped blade narrowed abruptly into a basal spur; the blade 5–9 mm long, oblong to oblong-circular, pale yellow or yellowish green; the spur 13–25 mm long, straight to slightly hooked inward or somewhat spreading, relatively stout toward the base, abruptly narrowed near the midpoint, and with a somewhat club-shaped tip, red. Stamens not showy, the anthers yellow, the innermost usually replaced by a ring of papery staminodes. Pistils 5–10, each with many ovules. Style present. Fruits follicles, the body 15–31 mm long, cylindrical, the wall thick and prominently veined, the tip spreading or curved outward at maturity, the beak 10–18 mm long. Receptacle not much enlarged at fruiting, the fruits in a ring. 2n=14. April–July.

Scattered to common nearly throughout the state (eastern U.S. west to North Dakota and Texas; Canada). Mesic upland forests, usually on moist rocky slopes, shaded ledges of bluffs, and rock outcrops, rarely bottomland forests; also occasionally roadsides; often on calcareous substrates, rarely on sandstone.

Aquilegia canadensis is becoming increasingly popular as an ornamental in gardens. Rare plants with entirely yellow flowers have been called f. flaviflora (Tenney) Britton, and color forms with white or salmon-colored flowers exist in other states.