Columbine Aquilegia

Columbine (Aquilegia), a beautiful genus of Ranunculaceae, natives of the north temperate zone. They have elegant bi-ternate or tri-ternate leaves and drooping polysymmetric flowers with five petaloid sepals, five petals, each with a long spur, indefinite stamens, and five carpels forming a ring of follicles. In the one British species, A. vulgaris, the spurs being incurved have been compared to five cloves' heads, the sepals being their wings, whence the name Columbine. In cultivation, the flowers vary much in colour, and are often doubled. Several American species and hybrids are now grown with very long spurs and beautifully contrasting colours in the calyx and corolla.