Plant Name
Scientific Name: Aquilegia chrysantha
Common Names: Golden Columbine, Yellow Columbine
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Perennial
Growth Habit: Herb/Forb
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: Mountain, Riparian. This beautiful wildflower grows along shady to partly shady streams and in other moderately moist areas in the mountains. If provided with shade and moist soil, Golden Columbines can be grown as garden plants at lower elevations.
Flower Color: Yellow to golden yellow or greenish yellow
Flowering Season: Spring (late), Summer
Height: Up to 4 feet (1.2 m) tall, but usually less
Description: The flowers are up to 3 inches (7.6 cm) across and have 5 longer, pale yellow, lanceolate sepals and 5 shorter, oblong petals with slender, evenly tapering, up to 2 1/2 inch (6.4 cm) long, nectar-filled spurs projecting behind them. The leaves are green and divided into 2 (rare) or 3 delicate, round-lobed or toothed leaflets. The stems are green and very slender, giving this plant a light, airy appearance.
The similar Longspur Columbine (Aquilegia longissima) has flowers with spoon-shaped petals and much longer spurs that can be up to 7 inches (18 cm) long.
Special Characteristics
Butterfly Plant – The flowers attract butterflies and hummingbird moths (their main pollinators).
Hummingbird Flower – The flowers attract hummingbirds.
Legal Status – Protected Native Plant (Salvage Restricted)
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Magnoliidae
Order: Ranunculales
Family: Ranunculaceae – Buttercup family
Genus: Aquilegia L. – columbine
Species: Aquilegia chrysantha A. Gray – golden columbine
More About This Plant
Arizona County Distribution Map
Golden Columbine (Aquilegia chrysantha) – The Firefly Forest