PAYSON—NORTH AMERICAN AQUILEGIA, 143 
Nevapa: Centerville; near Blaine post office, Elko County; Hunter Creek Canyon, 
Washoe County; Kings Canyon, Ormsby County; Little Lakes Canyon, Elko 
County; Calientes; Ely; vicinity of Reno; west of Franktown; Star Canyon, 
southeast of Deeth; Unionville; East Humbolt Mountains; Hawthorne, Big 
Indian Canyon; Star Peak; Cumberland; Lake Tahoe. 
Uran: Mount Ibapah; Hillman Ranch, Juab County; Aqui Mountains; “southern 
Utah.” 
Aquilegia formosa is the representative of the Rhodanthae most widely distributed 
in the northwestern part of North America. In the northern part of its range it is a 
quite uniform and homogeneous species, but in the southern and more arid regions 
of California, Nevada, and Utah it breaks up into an endless number of forms and 
subspecies. Some of these forms have been thought sufficiently peculiar to deserve 
specific names, such as A. tracyi, A. shockleyi, and A. wawawensis. Other plants, 
differing from formosa in several ways, but showing more points of intergradation 
with that species, have been treated as subspecies. Aquilegia rolumbiana Rydb. 
has been reduced to A. formosa rather than the subspecies truncata, which it in fact 
most closely resembles. This was done because it was not believed to be genetically 
related to the subspecies truncata. It is a rather similar form which has arisen sepa- 
rately. Unlike truncata it does not become the dominant form in any region, but 
_is found with typical formosa. 
_ The present species is a plant of a lower altitude than A. flavescens. In the few 
regions where the two grow near together the typical A. flavescens will be found on 
the higher areas and A. formosa in the river bottoms. This was noticed by the author 
in Custer County, Idaho. There, near the town of Challis, at an altitude of 1,620 
meters, was found nearly typical formosa, while on the slopes of Parker Mountain, 
about 25 miles away and at an altitude of 2,400 to 2,700 meters, was found nearly 
typical flavescens. Intermediate forms were met along Challis Creek between these 
altitudes. 
The following key will aid in separating the type and the subspecies: 
Leaves biternate. 
Laminz over 1 mm. long. 
Plants tall and branching.......................2.-2-00002- 6. A. formosa. 
Plants subacaulescent and tufted... ... eeeee 6b. A. formosa pauciflora. 
Laminz less than 1mm. long. Plant of California..6a. A. formosa truncata. 
Leaves triternate. 
Leaflets narrow; spurs thick.....................-.. 6c. A. formosa dissecta. 
Leaflets suborbicular; spurs slender..............-- 6d. A. formosa caelifax. 
6a. Aquilegia formosa truncata (Fisch. & Mey.) Jones, Zoe 4: 259. 1893. 
Aquilegia truncata Fisch. & Mey. Ind. Sem. Hort. Petrop. 9: Suppl. 8. 1843. 
Aquilegia californica Lindl. Gard. Chron. 1854: 836. 1854. 
Aquilegia eximia Van Houtte; Planch. Fl. Serr. Jard. II. 2:15. 1857. 
Aquilegia canadensis formosa Torr.; 8. Wats. in King, Geol. Expl. 40th Par, 5: 10. 
1871. 
Aquilegia hypolasia Greene, Leaflets 2: 141. 1911. 
Aquilegia adiantoides Greene, Leaflets 2: 142. 1911. 
Although long kept as a distinct species, this subspecies seems to differ from .A. 
formosa only by the very short lamin (1 mm. long or less). While replacing the 
species in southern California it is also found with it throughout the southern part of 
its range. Everywhere occur many intermediate forms that make determination 
difficult. 
TYPE Locauiry: Fort Ross. 
REFERENCES: Robinson, Syn. Fl. 1: 44. 1895. Merritt, Erythea 4: 102. 1896. 
Jepson, Fl. Calif. 517. 1914. 
