Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Aquilegia flavescens

Aquilegia longissima

yellow columbine

long-spur columbine
Stems

20-70 cm.

25-90 cm.
Basal leaves

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.

3x-ternately compound, 20-45 cm, usually shorter than stems;

leaflets green adaxially, to 20-40 mm, not viscid;

primary petiolules 28-82 mm (leaflets not crowded), glabrous or sometimes pilose.
Flowers

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.

erect;

sepals perpendicular to floral axis, pale yellow, lanceolate, 25-40 × 6-11 mm, apex narrowly acute or acuminate;

petals: spurs pale yellow, straight, ± parallel, 72-180 mm, very slender, evenly tapered from base, blades pale yellow, spatulate, 15-30 × 7-11 mm;

stamens 20-33 mm.
Follicles

18-27 mm;

beak 8-10 mm.

24-31 mm;

beak 16-26 mm.

Aquilegia flavescens

Aquilegia longissima
Phenology Flowering summer (Jun–Aug). Flowering summer (Jul–Sep).
Habitat Moist mountain meadows and alpine slopes Near streams or in damp rocky places in canyons
Elevation 1300-3500 m (4300-11500 ft) 1370-1520 m (4500-5000 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
ID; MT; OR; UT; WA; WY; AB; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; TX; ne Mexico
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

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.)

R. B. Miller (1985) suggested that Arizona reports of Aquilegia longissima are based on "unusually long-spurred individuals of A. chrysantha," but it is not clear on what characters he based his interpretation. Specimens from Arizona's Baboquivari Mountains have spurs 8-10 cm long, far outside the range of A. chrysantha, and seem correctly identified as A. longissima.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 3. FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Ranunculaceae > Aquilegia Ranunculaceae > Aquilegia
Sibling taxa
A. barnebyi, A. brevistyla, A. canadensis, A. chaplinei, A. chrysantha, A. coerulea, A. desertorum, A. elegantula, A. eximia, A. formosa, A. hinckleyana, A. jonesii, A. laramiensis, A. longissima, A. micrantha, A. pubescens, A. saximontana, A. scopulorum, A. shockleyi, A. vulgaris
A. barnebyi, A. brevistyla, A. canadensis, A. chaplinei, A. chrysantha, A. coerulea, A. desertorum, A. elegantula, A. eximia, A. flavescens, A. formosa, A. hinckleyana, A. jonesii, A. laramiensis, A. micrantha, A. pubescens, A. saximontana, A. scopulorum, A. shockleyi, A. vulgaris
Synonyms A. flavescens var. miniana
Name authority S. Watson: Botany (Fortieth Parallel), 10. (1871) A. Gray ex S. Watson: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 17: 317-318. (1882)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America, OregonFlora, UW Burke Herbarium

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers