136 i'l^'K TO RED 



A large gaudy flower of which it has been said : 



" The graceful columbine, all bhishing red, 

 Bends to the earth her crown 

 Of honey-laden bells."' 



The Western Columbine does not seek the light dry soil 

 amongst the rocks, as do its sisters, the Yellow and the Blue 

 Columbines, but prefers a moist habitat, w^here its brilliant 

 pendulous blossoms make the valleys gay. 



It has five bright red and gold petals, growing alternately 

 with its five red sepals. These petals, shaped like inverted 

 cornucopias, are usually edged as well as lined with yellow, 

 their upper ends being narrowed to terminal tubular spurs. 

 Linnaeus gave this plant its generic name, derived from the 

 Latin aquila, owing to the fancied resemblance of its spurs 

 to the claws of an eagle ; while Columbine is taken from 

 columba, "a dove," and refers to the resemblance of its 

 nectaries to a circle of doves in a ring around a dish, w^hich 

 was a favourite device amongst sculptors and painters in 

 ancient times. The numerous stamens and long slender styles 

 of the pistils protrude like pretty golden tassels from each 

 flower. The foliage of this tall plant, which usually grows 

 from two to three feet high, is very abundant and fern-like ; 

 dark green on the top, and pale and whitish underneath. 

 The larger leaves grow^ on long foot-stalks and are divided 

 into three leaflets, which in their turn are three-to-five lobed 

 and have unequally toothed edges. 



There are not very many really red mountain wild flowers, 

 and therefore the traveller takes an especial delight in finding 

 the Western Columbine, since, like Eugene Field, he loves 

 a blossom of "any colour at all so long as it's red." It is 

 a plant extremely attractive to bees, butterflies, and birds, 

 which come to sip its sweets. 



