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Columbine

Columbine

Aquilegia vulgaris

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How common: Common

Alien species

Columbine is a perennial with nodding, spurred flowers, often grown in gardens and sometimes found wild. It is seen in light woods, along roadsides and near old yards where it may have escaped cultivation. Note: all parts are poisonous.

Did you know?

  • A popular garden plant with many cultivated forms and colours.
  • The curled spurs of the flowers hold nectar for long-tongued insects.

About the species

Identification

Perennial 30–80 cm tall with upright stems. Basal leaves on long stalks; each leaf is divided into three rounded parts, and each of those is split into three again; upper side green, underside blue‑green. Flowers are single or few at stem tips, 3–5 cm across, usually deep blue, sometimes pink or white. They hang slightly and have five long spurs that curl back like little hooks. After flowering, several dry pods 1.5–2.5 cm long form, each ending in a short point. Easy to tell by the hooked spurs; garden forms vary in colour, but the spurs give it away. All parts are poisonous. Flowers in Finland in June–July.

Plant group

Herbaceous plants

Habitat

herb-rich forest

Toxicity

A poisonous plant – do not taste it. Source: HUS Poison Information Centre (Finland), tel. 0800 147 111.

Flowering

Jun–Jul

About the habitat

Grows in light or rich woods, edges and clearings, and near settlements; often along roadsides and by old gardens as a garden escape. Found across Finland, most common in the south and becoming rarer toward the north; long-established in gardens and spreading locally.

Sources

Photo: Krzysztof Golik, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aquilegia vulgaris in Aveyron 02.jpg

Text: Pinkka: BIO-515 Etelä-Suomen putkilokasvit - Acinos-Butomus, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.37939

Text: Pinkka: Maatalouslajintuntemus - Berberidaceae, Ranunculaceae, Papaveraceae, Ulmaceae, Buxaceae, Cannabaceae, Urticaceae, Fagaceae, Betulaceae, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.37939

Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lehtoakileija

See also