Aquilegia formosa
Red Columbine

Family: Ranunculaceae (Buttercup family)

Photo taken at Mill Creek near Stevens Pass, moist open area with thick brush cover

Flowers:

flowers nodding; sepals 12 to 20 mm, pale to deep red; petal blade 1 to 8 mm, yellow; spur 10 to 23 mm, red, nearly straight

Fruit:

5 erect follicles

Leaves:

basal and lower cauline leaves 2 to 3 ternate, upper cauline leaves simple to 3 lobed

Plant:

2 to 8 dm tall

Habitat:

woods, moist meadows, and streambanks

Distribution of species:

Southern Alaska to California, east to Montana and Utah

Distribution of genus:

more or less 70 species: temperate North America and Eurasia