Aquilegia formosa
A red-and-yellow wildflower pollinated by hummingbirds.
Aquilegia formosa, also known as crimson columbine, western columbine, sitka columbine, or red columbine, is a common wildflower native to western North America. Its range extends from Alaska to Baja California and eastward to Montana and Wyoming.
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- formosa
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Description
This perennial herb reaches 20–80 cm in height, averaging around 60 cm. Its flowers, appearing from April to August, are about 5 cm long and colored red and yellow. The reddish-orange sepals and petal spurs derive their color from the anthocyanins pelargonidin and cyanidin, along with carotenoids, while the yellow petal blades are pigmented by carotenoids. Hummingbirds are the primary pollinators, though bees, butterflies, and flies also visit. At elevations around 9,000–10,000 feet in the eastern drainages of the central Sierra Nevada mountains of California, it forms hybrid zones with Aquilegia pubescens, a species pollinated mainly by hawk moths. The flowers are edible and sweet, but the seeds can be fatal if eaten, and most parts contain cyanogenic glycosides.
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