Aquilegia pubescens-formosa hybrid-swarm flowers close.jpg on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
''Aquilegia'' (common names: granny's bonnet, columbine) is a
Columbine is a hardiness (plants), hardy perennial plant, perennial, which Plant propagation, propagates by seed. It will grow to a height of . It will grow in full sun; however, it prefers growing in partial shade and well drained soil, and is able to tolerate average soils and dry soil conditions. Columbine is rated at hardiness zone 3 in the United States so does not require mulching or protection in the winter.
Large numbers of hybrids are available for the garden, since the European ''Aquilegia vulgaris, A. vulgaris'' was hybridized with other European and North American varieties.
''Aquilegia'' species are very interfertile, and will self-sow. Some varieties are short-lived so are better treated as biennial plant, biennials.
The British National Collection of ''Aquilegia''s was held by Mrs Carrie Thomas at Killay, Swansea, Killay near Swansea. Some time during or before 2014 the collection started to succumb to Aquilegia Downy Mildew ''Peronospora aquilegiicola'' which was at the time an emerging disease to which the plants had no resistance. By 2018 the entire collection had been lost. Aquilegia can be grown from seeds or rhizomes.
The flowers of various species of columbine were consumed in moderation by Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans as a condiment with other fresh greens, and are reported to be very sweet, and safe if consumed in small quantities. The plant's seeds and roots, however, are highly poisonous and contain cardiogenic toxins which cause both severe gastroenteritis and heart palpitations if consumed as food. Native Americans used very small amounts of ''Aquilegia'' root as a treatment for peptic ulcer, ulcers. However, the medical use of this plant is better avoided due to its high toxicity; columbine poisonings may be fatal.
An acute toxicity test in mice has demonstrated that ethanol extract mixed with isocytisoside, the main flavonoid compound from the leaves and stems of ''Aquilegia vulgaris'', can be classified as non-toxic, since a dose of 3000 mg/kg did not cause mortality.
Columbine species include:
Allan M. Armitage: Armitage's Native Plants for North American Gardens.Timber Press, 2006
* Dezhi, Fu; Robinson, Orbélia R. (2001): 19. ''Aquilegia. In:'' Wu, Z. Y.; Peter H. Raven, Raven, Peter Hamilton & Hong, D. Y. (eds.): ''Flora of China'' (Vol. 6: Caryophyllaceae through Lardizabalaceae): 278. Science Press, Beijing & Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.
HTML fulltext
* * * Nold, Robert (2003): Columbines: ''Aquilegia'', ''Paraquilegia'', and ''Semiaquilegia''. Timber Press. Preview
at Google Books * Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) [2008]: Digital Flora Europaea
''Aquilegia'' species list
Retrieved 2008-NOV-25. * Tilford, Gregory L. (1997): ''Edible and Medicinal Plants of the West''. Mountain Press Pub., Missoula, Montana. * United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) [2008]
USDA Plants Profile: ''Aquilegia''
Retrieved 2008-NOV-25. * * Kramer, E. M. (2009)
Aquilegia: A New Model for Plant Development, Ecology, and Evolution
''Annual Review of Plant Biology,'' Vol. 60. *
genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
of about 60–70 species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
of perennial plant
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...
s that are found in meadow
A meadow ( ) is an open habitat, or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non- woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as these areas maintain an open character. Meadows may be naturally occurring or arti ...
s, woodland
A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (se ...
s, and at higher altitudes throughout the Northern Hemisphere, known for the spurred petals Puzey, J.R., Gerbode, S.J., Hodges, S.A., Kramer, E.M., Mahadevan, L. (2011) Evolution of ''Aquilegia'' spur length diversity through changes in cell anisotropy. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. of their flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...
s.
Etymology
The genus name Aquilegia comes from the Latin “Aquila”, or “eagle”; this is in obvious reference to the spurred, “hook” shapes within the blooms, that many gardeners say resemble an eagle's talons.Description
Perennial herbaceous plants, herbs, with woody, erect stock, roots forming thick rhizomes. The basal leaves are compound, 1–3 Glossary of leaf morphology#Leaf structure, ternate, blades 3-lobed -partite, and lobes lobulate and Glossary of leaf morphology#obtuse, obtuse. The cauline leaves are similar to the basal ones, while the upper ones are bract like. The Plant reproductive morphology#Bisexual, hermaphrodite (bisexual) flowers are terminal to stem and branches. They are usually pentamerous (with five spreading perianth petaloid sepal segments). Five tubular honey-leaves are semi erect with a flat limb and spurred or saccate at the base. The spur is directed backwards and secretes nectar. Stamens are numerous (often more than 50) in whorl (botany), whorls of 5, the innermost being scarious staminodes. There are ten membranaceous intrastaminal scales. There are five pistils and the Carpels are free. The fruit has several (five to 15) follicle (fruit), follicles which are semi erect and slightly Connation, connate downwards. These hold many seeds and are formed at the end of the pistils. The nectar is mainly consumed by long-beaked birds such as hummingbirds. Almost all ''Aquilegia'' species have a ring of staminodia around the base of the stigma, which may help protect against insects. Chromosome number is x=7.Relatives
Columbines are closely related to plants in the genera ''Actaea (plant), Actaea'' (baneberries) and ''Aconitum'' (wolfsbanes/monkshoods), which like ''Aquilegia'' produce cardiogenic toxins.Tilford (1997)Insects
They are used as food plants by some Lepidoptera (butterfly and moth) caterpillars. These are mainly of noctuid moths – noted for feeding on many poisonous plants without harm – such as cabbage moth (''Mamestra brassicae''), dot moth (''Melanchra persicariae'') and mouse moth (''Amphipyra tragopoginis''). The Engrailed (moth), engrailed (''Ectropis crepuscularia''), a geometer moth, also uses columbine as a larval food plant. The larvae of the ''Papaipema leucostigma'' also feed on columbine. Plants in the genus ''Aquilegia'' are a major food source for ''Bombus hortorum'', a species of bumblebee. Specifically, they have been found to forage on species of ''Aquilegia vulgaris'' in Belgium and ''Aquilegia chrysantha'' in North America and Belgium. The bees do not show any preference in color of the flowers.Cultivation
Columbine is a hardiness (plants), hardy perennial plant, perennial, which Plant propagation, propagates by seed. It will grow to a height of . It will grow in full sun; however, it prefers growing in partial shade and well drained soil, and is able to tolerate average soils and dry soil conditions. Columbine is rated at hardiness zone 3 in the United States so does not require mulching or protection in the winter.
Large numbers of hybrids are available for the garden, since the European ''Aquilegia vulgaris, A. vulgaris'' was hybridized with other European and North American varieties.
''Aquilegia'' species are very interfertile, and will self-sow. Some varieties are short-lived so are better treated as biennial plant, biennials.
The British National Collection of ''Aquilegia''s was held by Mrs Carrie Thomas at Killay, Swansea, Killay near Swansea. Some time during or before 2014 the collection started to succumb to Aquilegia Downy Mildew ''Peronospora aquilegiicola'' which was at the time an emerging disease to which the plants had no resistance. By 2018 the entire collection had been lost. Aquilegia can be grown from seeds or rhizomes.
Uses
The flowers of various species of columbine were consumed in moderation by Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans as a condiment with other fresh greens, and are reported to be very sweet, and safe if consumed in small quantities. The plant's seeds and roots, however, are highly poisonous and contain cardiogenic toxins which cause both severe gastroenteritis and heart palpitations if consumed as food. Native Americans used very small amounts of ''Aquilegia'' root as a treatment for peptic ulcer, ulcers. However, the medical use of this plant is better avoided due to its high toxicity; columbine poisonings may be fatal.
An acute toxicity test in mice has demonstrated that ethanol extract mixed with isocytisoside, the main flavonoid compound from the leaves and stems of ''Aquilegia vulgaris'', can be classified as non-toxic, since a dose of 3000 mg/kg did not cause mortality.
Culture
The Colorado blue columbine (''A. coerulea'') is the official state flower of Colorado (see also Columbine, Colorado). It is also used as a symbol of the Amalgamation of Toronto, former city of Scarborough, Toronto, Scarborough in the Canadian province of Ontario.Evolution
Columbines have been important in the study of evolution. It was found that the Sierra columbine (''A. pubescens'') and crimson columbine (''A. formosa'') each has adaptation, adapted specifically to a pollinator. Bees and hummingbirds are the visitors to ''A. formosa'', while hawkmoths would only visit ''A. pubescens'' when given a choice. Such a "pollination syndrome", being due to flower color and orientation controlled by their genetics, ensures reproductive isolation and can be a cause of speciation. ''Aquilegia'' petals show an enormous range of petal spur length diversity ranging from a centimeter to the 15 cm spurs of ''Aquilegia longissima''. Selection from pollinator shifts is suggested to have driven these changes in nectar spur length. It was shown that this spur length diversity is achieved solely through changing cell shape, not cell number or cell size. This suggests that a simple microscopic change can result in a dramatic evolutionarily relevant morphological change.Species
Columbine species include:
See also
* Columbine cup * Nora BarlowNotes
References
Bibliography
* ''see also'' Flora Europaea * * * ** , inAllan M. Armitage: Armitage's Native Plants for North American Gardens.Timber Press, 2006
* Dezhi, Fu; Robinson, Orbélia R. (2001): 19. ''Aquilegia. In:'' Wu, Z. Y.; Peter H. Raven, Raven, Peter Hamilton & Hong, D. Y. (eds.): ''Flora of China'' (Vol. 6: Caryophyllaceae through Lardizabalaceae): 278. Science Press, Beijing & Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.
HTML fulltext
* * * Nold, Robert (2003): Columbines: ''Aquilegia'', ''Paraquilegia'', and ''Semiaquilegia''. Timber Press. Preview
at Google Books * Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) [2008]: Digital Flora Europaea
''Aquilegia'' species list
Retrieved 2008-NOV-25. * Tilford, Gregory L. (1997): ''Edible and Medicinal Plants of the West''. Mountain Press Pub., Missoula, Montana. * United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) [2008]
USDA Plants Profile: ''Aquilegia''
Retrieved 2008-NOV-25. * * Kramer, E. M. (2009)
Aquilegia: A New Model for Plant Development, Ecology, and Evolution
''Annual Review of Plant Biology,'' Vol. 60. *
External links
{{Taxonbar, from=Q147641 Aquilegia, Ranunculaceae genera Poisonous plants