Aquilegia shockleyi

Desert columbine

Family: Ranunculaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Desert columbine is a California native perennial found in the White and Inyo Mountains and eastern desert mountains in moist seeps, springs, and pinyon/juniper woodland at elevations of 1,200 to 2,700 meters. Flowering from May to August, this plant produces distinctive red flowers with yellow and green sepals and delicate yellow petals with pink or red spurs 12 to 23 millimeters long. Growing 40 to 100 centimeters tall with a generally glabrous and glaucous appearance, the plant develops complex leaf structures. Its basal and lower cauline leaves are intricately 3-ternate, with leaflets 11 to 38 millimeters long, while upper leaves are typically simple or deeply 3-lobed. The plant produces elongated fruits 14 to 23 millimeters long with a distinctive beak 9 to 12 millimeters in length.

Habitat: Seeps, springs, moist places in pinyon/juniper woodland

Bloom period: May-Aug

Elevation: 1200-2700 m

Bioregions: W&ampI, DMtns

California counties: Mono, San Bernardino, Inyo, El Dorado, Tulare, Madera

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