Index / Search / Aquilegia formosa
§1 Plant
Aquilegia formosa Fisch. ex DC.
vernacular western columbine — species · Ranunculaceae
§2Habit & range
Habit and range
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb
- Duration
- Perennial
- Group
- Dicot
- Family
- Ranunculaceae Juss.
- Genus
- Aquilegia
§2a
Native status, by region
- AK Alaska Native
- CAN Canada Native
- L48 Lower 48 States Native
§2b
County-level range
· 1 county across 1 state§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Drought
- Medium
- Shade
- Low
- Moisture use
- Medium
- Fire
- High
- Salinity
- None
- Anaerobic
- Low
- CaCO₃
- Low
- Hedging
- Low
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- -23 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 100 min.
- Precipitation
- 15–60 in/yr
- pH range
- 6–7.5
- Root depth
- 6 in min.
- Fertility need
- Low
- Soil texture
- coarse, medium
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Multiple Stem
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Lifespan
- Short
- Mature height
- 3 ft
- Foliage texture
- Medium
- Foliage colour
- Green
- Porosity (summer)
- Porous
- Flower colour
- Red
- Fruit colour
- Brown
- Fire resistant
- No
- N fixation
- None
- Toxicity
- None
§3d
Reproduction
- Bloom period
- Spring
- Seed abundance
- High
- Seed begins
- Summer
- Seed ends
- Fall
- Spread rate
- Rapid
- Stratify
- No
- Seeds / lb
- 248,000
- Propagation
- seed, container
§3e
Use & availability
- Commercial availability
- Contracting Only
- Nursery stock
- Yes
- Browse palatability
- High
- Graze palatability
- High
- Palatable, human
- No
- Protein potential
- Medium
- Lumber
- No
- Christmas tree
- No
§4Counties, by state
Recorded in 1 county across 1 state.
Montana view state ↗ 1 N ▾
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/AQFO ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/3033169 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25
fetched 2026-05-25T18:27:19Z