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Smith, R.W.

Aquilegia chrysantha

Aquilegia chrysantha A. Gray

Golden Columbine, Yellow Columbine, Southwestern Yellow Columbine

Ranunculaceae (Buttercup Family)

Synonym(s):

USDA Symbol: AQCH

USDA Native Status: L48 (N)

Several stems and basal leaves form a bushy perennial columbine one to three feet tall with handsome, clear yellow flowers that are held relatively erect on long stalks rather than nodding. Leaves are usually divided into three, occasionally into two parts (variety hinckleyana), with leaflets up to four centimeters long, all carried on petioles up to 20 centimeters in length. Petal blades normally range from eight to sixteen centimeters long, but those of variety hinckleyana are only two centimeters long and sixteen millimeters wide. Spurs range from less than four to more than ten centimeters in length, with four to nine centimeters most common.

Native to moist canyon seeps in the Chihuahuan and Sonoran deserts of southwestern North America, this popular garden columbine is perfect for brightening dark corners of Southwestern shade gardens. It requires good drainage and can't take excessive sun, but is relatively adaptable to any standard garden soil. It is pollinated by moths, butterflies, and bees.

There are several yellow-flowered columbines in western North America, including Longspur Columbine (A. longissima), the rare Hinckley Columbine (A. chrysantha var. hinckleyana), and the rare Chaplin's Columbine (A. chrysantha var. chaplinei), the latter two currently considered varieties of A. chrysantha. Aquilegia flavescens, a mountain species growing from southern British Columbia to northern Oregon, east to Colorado, western Wyoming, and Alberta, has bent tips on the spurs, forming hooks.

The word columbine comes from columbinus, in Latin "dove," referring to the flower's resemblance to a cluster of 5 doves. The spurs represent the birds' heads and shoulders; the spreading sepals, the wings; the blade of the petal, each bird's body. The genus name, from the Latin aquila ("eagle"), alludes to the petals, which resemble eagle talons.

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