RED COLUMBINE (Aquilegia truncata, F. & M.). The Col- 

 umbines are easily recognized by their showy flowers with five 

 petals, each produced downward in the form of a long, hollow 

 spur, and sepals colored like the petals. There are more than 

 a dozen species indigenous to the West, the nodding flowers oc- 

 curring in red, yellow, blue, purple, and white in the differ- 

 ent species. 



Three or four are natives of the Pacific Coast and of these 

 the most abundant is the Red Columbine. Its scarlet flowers 

 tinged with yellow are a familiar sight during spring and sum- 

 mer, in moist, shady places and along mountain streams 

 throughout the length and breadth of the state, from almost 

 sea level to the edge of perpetual snow. Under favorable 

 conditions the plant attains a height of four feet. 



The Blue Columbine (A. coendea, James), which is abund- 

 ant in the Rocky Mountains and has the distinction of being 

 Colorado's state flower, has been reported from the mountains 

 of California also, but is not common there. It is a glorious 

 flower, pale blue to white, occasionally tinged with yellow or 

 pink, and bearing slender spurs sometimes two inches in 

 length. 



