A study of the number of pistils in the Colorado Blue 

 Columbine, Aquilegia caerulea 



C. R. Walker 



AND 



Daisy Greene 



In the classes in the taxonomy of the flowering plants it was 

 noted that the Colorado Blue, Columbine was not constant in 

 the number of pistils, and the following investigation was un- 

 dertaken to formulate some conclusions concerning this point. 

 Inspection of the keys shows agreement on the number of pistils 

 given for the genus Aquilegia, but our findings do not agree, 

 except in part as noted below, with the number as recorded for 

 this genus. Gray (1887), Wood (1889), Dana (1895), Britton 

 (1901), Stevens (1902), Nelson (1903), Coulter and Nelson 

 (1909), Nelson (1912), Clements and Clements (1917), Bailey 

 (1920), Rydberg (1922), and Blanchan (1926) all give "pistils 

 five" for the genus. 



Two regions quite widely separated were chosen for this 

 study in order to determine if the environmental influences 

 played any part in the lack of constancy in the number of pistils. 

 The majority of flowers examined were found in the Uncom- 

 pahgre Forest Reserve, southwest from Delta, Colo., and the 

 others were examined from Pinion Mesa near the Fruita Re- 

 serve, southwest of Grand Junction, Colo. In the Uncompahgre 

 Forest a variety of locations as to soil and moisture was chosen, 

 such as head of Cushman canyon, upper Cushman canyon, va- 

 rious places in the canyon, along the Nucla road, and by Blue 

 Creek. The counts on Pinion Mesa were made from the typical 

 mountain hillside conditions. 



The blue columbine may have as many as three or four main 

 stems. In the counts each stem was listed separately and the 

 lower blossoms and unopened buds were counted first and the 

 the number of pistils recorded for each as they appeared in an 

 ascending order. On Pinion Mesa a total of thirty-five plants 

 with one hundred forty-six flowers were examined and counted, 

 and in the Uncompahgre Forest one hundred fifty-seven plants 

 with seven hundred thirty-seven flowers. 



The number of pistils as counted in the eight hundred 

 eighty-three flowers appears below. 



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