Aquilegia canadensis

Did You Know?

• Pawnee traditional medicine uses powdered seeds in hot water as a drink to treat fever or headache.
• Cherokee traditional medicine makes a tea from Canadian columbine for 'heart trouble'.

Description

Canadian columbine is an herbaceous perennial that grows from a substantial caudex, with fibrous, short-lived roots. Its hollow stems may be hairless or bear fine glandular hairs. The leaves are twice ternately compound, each divided into three parts with three leaflets, totaling nine; basal leaves are shorter than the flowering stems. Leaflets are broadly ovate to nearly round, with wavy teeth or lobes, hairless above but sometimes finely hairy beneath, and range from green to blue-green.

The plant remains evergreen between -10 °F and 110 °F, going dormant at extremes. Blooming begins in spring, from March to July, lasting about a month. Each flower typically has five yellow petals that elongate into red, nectar-bearing spurs, alternating with five red, petal-like sepals, though four or six petals occur rarely. Flowers are nodding, with spurs pointing upward and stamens projecting downward.

Anthers release pollen before stigmas become receptive, promoting cross-pollination. The flowers produce abundant dilute nectar and attract hummingbirds, bumblebees, hawkmoths, and other bees.

Taxonomy

Carl Linnaeus gave Aquilegia canadensis its binomial name in 1753. It belongs to the genus Aquilegia in the family Ranunculaceae. The species has no accepted varieties but includes 11 among its 26 heterotypic synonyms. The specific epithet canadensis means 'belonging to Canada', where the first scientific specimens were collected. Common names include Canadian columbine, Canada columbine, common columbine, red columbine, eastern columbine, eastern red columbine, wild red columbine, wild columbine, American columbine, and rock bells. Regional names include honeysuckle, honey horns, meetinghouses, jacket-and-breeches, Jack-in-trousers, lady's slipper, red-bells, rock-lily, bells, akeley, culverwort, ancolie, Gants de Notre-Dame, and cluckies. In Omaha–Ponca it is called inubthoⁿ-kithe-sabe-hi ('black perfume plant'), and in Pawnee it is skalikatit or skarikatit ('black seed').

Distribution and habitat

Aquilegia canadensis is native to eastern and central North America, from New Brunswick to northern Florida and west to Saskatchewan and Texas. It is the only native columbine in eastern North America, though smallflower columbine (Aquilegia brevistyla) occurs as far east as Clay County, Minnesota and northern Ontario, and European columbine (Aquilegia vulgaris) has escaped cultivation in Canada, the northeast, and parts of the south. In Canada it is native but possibly locally extinct in New Brunswick; it grows near the St. Lawrence River in Quebec, throughout southern Ontario and the southern half of Northern Ontario, in southern Manitoba, and in easternmost southern Saskatchewan.

In the United States it is native to every Midwestern state, reaching its western limits in the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma. It is widespread in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio, and recorded in every state from Maine to New Jersey and every county of Pennsylvania. In the Southeast it is native to every state except Louisiana, common in Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky, less widespread in North Carolina and Tennessee, and known from few counties in South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and the Florida panhandle. It grows only in Tishomingo County, Mississippi, mostly in northern Arkansas, and on the Edwards Plateau in Texas.

Ecology

Aquilegia canadensis has a mixed mating system, capable of both self-pollination and outcrossing. It is fully self-compatible and can produce seeds without pollinators, though fruit and seed production are lower in their absence. The balance between selfing and outcrossing is influenced by herkogamy—the separation of anther and stigma—which varies genetically among populations; greater separation reduces autonomous selfing and favors outcrossing.

Pollination is primarily by the ruby-throated hummingbird (Archilochus colubris), which accesses nectar in the elongated spurs. Canadian columbine is among the eight most important nectar sources for hummingbirds in eastern North America. Bumblebees, hawkmoths, and other bees also contribute to outcrossing. Genetic studies comparing A. canadensis with its bee-pollinated sister species A. brevistyla indicate that the shift to hummingbird pollination is linked to changes in spur curvature, floral pigmentation, and nectar traits.

Reproductive success depends on population size: larger, denser populations produce more fruits and seeds per plant, while smaller populations reduce pollinator visits and outcrossing.