Toronto Springs Conservation Area is located in Camden County, five miles east of Montreal on Route E, then one mile east on Route A, which forms most of the southern boundary of the ar
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Name
Poisonous
Scientific Name
Aquilegia canadensis
Family
Ranunculaceae (crowfoots; buttercups)
Description
Eastern red columbine is an herbaceous perennial common in woodlands and often found hanging from cliffs.
The flowers are single on long stems, with a distinctive shape, the 5 petals forming elongated, hollow, red spurs containing nectar; the 5 sepals are leaflike, attached between the petals, light yellow. The numerous stamens extend below the flower. Blooms April–July.
Leaves: a few are basal, the others are cauline (along the stem), both on long petioles, blades 3-divided with deep lobes, bluish green.
Other Common Names
Eastern Red Columbine
Size
Height: to 2 feet.
Where To Find
Statewide, except in the Southeast Lowlands.
Habitat and Conservation
Occurs on rock ledges, on rocky slopes in woods, in ravines, and on bluffs, often in shaded locations.
Status
Native Missouri wildflower. Often used in native wildflower gardening.
Human Connections
Easy to propagate from its many seeds, this columbine species is a long-lived garden plant that naturalizes and can even be somewhat weedy if you do not deadhead spent flowers. It attracts hummingbirds. It hybridizes readily with other columbines, creating plants with combinations of traits.
Today, columbines are favorites of gardeners, but in the past, Native Americans used these (toxic) plants for various medicinal purposes. Columbine was sometimes used as a love potion; people rubbed the ground seeds on their palms before grasping the hands of their beloved or of people they wished to persuade.
Ecosystem Connections
Flowers with such deep nectaries need pollinators with long tongues — enter the hummingbirds! This species of columbine begins blooming about the same time hummingbirds migrate back northward, to our state and north into Canada, in spring. Native to much of eastern North America, eastern red columbine's range almost matches the breeding territory of the ruby-throated hummingbird, its number-one pollinator. Its bloom time matches the hummingbird's northward migration, too.
Other pollinators include butterflies and moths, particularly the hummingbird moth.
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Noppadol Paothong
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Caption
Columbine is one of the native wildflowers that bloom spring into early summer along trails near bluffs at Burr Oak Woods Nature Center.
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MDC
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Noppadol Paothong
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About Wildflowers, Grasses and Other Nonwoody Plants in Missouri
A very simple way of thinking about the green world is to divide the vascular plants into two groups: woody and nonwoody (or herbaceous). But this is an artificial division; many plant families include some species that are woody and some that are not. The diversity of nonwoody vascular plants is staggering! Think of all the ferns, grasses, sedges, lilies, peas, sunflowers, nightshades, milkweeds, mustards, mints, and mallows — weeds and wildflowers — and many more!