Aquilegia eximia

Serpentine columbine

Family: Ranunculaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Serpentine columbine is a California native perennial found in the North Coast Ranges, San Francisco Bay Area, southern Coast Ranges, and western Transverse Ranges in serpentine seeps and mixed-evergreen forests at elevations of 100 to 1,800 meters. Flowering from May to October, this plant produces striking red flowers with yellow stamens, featuring long spurs 12 to 25 millimeters in length and distinctive elliptic to triangular flower mouths. Growing with glandular stems 20 to 160 centimeters tall, it develops dense, complex foliage with lower leaves that are 2 to 3-ternate and upper leaves often simply lobed. Its leaves have intricate compound structures with leaflets 8 to 35 millimeters long, arranged on petioles up to 30 centimeters in length. The plant produces elongated fruit capsules 15 to 25 millimeters long with a pronounced beak 12 to 20 millimeters long.

Habitat: Generally serpentine seeps, occasionally moist ravines, mixed-evergreen or conifer forests

Bloom period: May-Oct

Elevation: 100-1800 m

Bioregions: NCoR, SnFrB, SCoR, w WTR.

California counties: Monterey, Santa Clara, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Ventura, Lake, Marin, Santa Cruz, San Benito, Napa, Colusa, El Dorado, Los Angeles, Mendocino, Santa Barbara, Trinity, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Contra Costa, Sierra, Tehama, Fresno, San Bernardino, Plumas, Glenn

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.