COLUMBINE.
Aquilegia truncata, Fisch. and Mey. Buttercup or Crowfoot Family.
Stems.—One to three feet high; very slender. Leaves.—Mostly radical; divided into thin, distant leaflets. Flowers.—Scarlet; tinged with yellow; eighteen to twenty-four lines across. Parts in fives. Sepals.—Petaloid; rotately spreading. Petals.—Tubular; produced into long spurs or horns. Stamens.—Numerous on the receptacle; much exserted. Pistils.—Five; simple. Hab.—Throughout California.
Sprung in a cleft of the wayside steep, And saucily nodding, flushing deep, With her airy tropic bells aglow,— Bold and careless, yet wondrous light, And swung into poise on the stony height, Like a challenge flung to the world below! Skirting the rocks at the forest edge With a running flame from ledge to ledge, Or swaying deeper in shadowy glooms, A smoldering fire in her dusky blooms; Bronzed and molded by wind and sun, Maddening, gladdening every one With a gypsy beauty full and fine,— A health to the crimson columbine!
—Elaine Goodale
To enjoy the exquisite airy beauty of this lovely flower, we must seek it in its own haunts—for there is a touch of wildness in its nature that will not be subdued; nor will it submit to being handled or ruthlessly transported from its own sylvan retreat.
Fringing the stream, peering over the bank, as if to see its own loveliness reflected there, or hiding in the greenest recesses of the woodland, it is always a welcome blossom, and the eye brightens and the pulse quickens upon beholding it.
This species is at home throughout our borders; but there is another form which is said to be found occasionally in our very high mountains—A. cœrulea, James. This is plentiful in the Rocky Mountains, and is the State flower of Colorado. Its blossoms, which are blue or white, are large and magnificent, with slender spurs an inch and a half or two inches long.
![[COLUMBINE—Aquilegia truncata.]](#3624944100741987669_f136.png.id-2657000768648710564.wrap-0.html.html){kind=link}