Aquilegia flavescens
Aquilegia desertorum
yellow columbine
desert columbine
20-70 cm.
15-60 cm.
2x-ternately compound, 8-30 cm, much shorter than stems;
leaflets green adaxially, to 14-42 mm, not viscid;
primary petiolules to 13-67 mm (leaflets not crowded), glabrous or pilose.
2-3x-ternately compound, 7-30 cm, much shorter than stems;
leaflets to 9-26(-32) mm, not viscid, either green adaxially or glaucous on both sides;
primary petiolules 15-57 mm (leaflets not crowded), glabrous or pilose, sometimes somewhat viscid.
nodding;
sepals perpendicular to floral axis, yellow or tinged with pink, elliptic-lanceolate to oblong, 12-22 × 4-10 mm, apex obtuse to acute or sometimes acuminate;
petals: spurs yellow, tips incurved, 10-18 mm, stout, evenly tapered from base or more abruptly narrowed near middle, blades cream colored, oblong, 7-10 × 4-8 mm;
stamens 12-17 mm.
nodding;
sepals divergent from floral axis, red or apex yellow-green, elliptic-ovate to ovate or lanceolate, 7-20 × 3-8 mm, apex obtuse to acuminate;
petals: spurs red, straight, ± parallel, 16-32 mm, stout proximally, slender distally, abruptly narrowed near middle, blades yellow or red and yellow, oblong or rounded, 4-12 × 3-8 mm;
stamens 14-19 mm.
18-27 mm;
beak 8-10 mm.
15-30 mm;
beak 8-12 mm.
Aquilegia flavescens
Aquilegia desertorum
Aquilegia flavescens sometimes forms hybrid swarms with A. formosa var. formosa, which grows at lower elevations through much of its range. Intermediate specimens having pinkish red flowers and petal blades 5-6 mm are occasionally found where these species grow together. The name A. flavescens var. miniana has sometimes been mistakenly applied to these intermediates, but the type of var. miniana is a typical, pink-sepaled plant of A. flavescens.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Aquilegia desertorum is very similar to A. canadensis. Further research is needed to determine whether they are really distinct at the species level. The leaflets may be weakly viscid abaxially in plants from the Zion National Park area, Utah.
Plants from the eastern and southern parts of the range of Aquilegia desertorum have usually been considered a distinct species, A. triternata, mainly because of their longer sepals and petal blades (sepals narrowly ovate to lanceolate, 12-20 × 4-8 mm, apex acuminate, petal blades 6-12 mm in A. triternata versus sepals ovate or elliptic-ovate, 7-13 × 3-6 mm, apex obtuse or acute, petal blades 3-5 mm in A. desertorum in the strict sense). These sepal and petal types intergrade over much of central Arizona, however, and other characteristics supposedly diagnostic for A. triternata (leaves not glaucous, 3×-ternately compound) are scarcely correlated with the flower characteristics or with one another.
The Navaho-Kayenta used Aquilegia desertorum as an aid in ceremonies (D. E. Moerman 1986).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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