AQUILEG1A CAMDENSIS-W1LD COLUMBINE. 



LINN. CLASS, POLYANDRIA ; ORDER PENTAGYNIA. 

 NATURAL ORDER, RANUNCULACEjE. 



This flower has no calyx ; petals five, caducous ; nectaries 

 five, alternating with the petals and terminating downwards in 

 a spur-like nectary; carpels five, erect, acuminated with the 

 permanent styles ; many seeded j horns straight ; stamens 

 exsert; leaves decompound. 



The wild Columbine is one of the earliest flowers of spring, 

 being found in bloom in the month of April. It chooses dry 

 rocky situations, gleaming from ravines, and nodding over 

 precipices where there is scarcely footing for a blade of grass. 

 Its brilliant red blossoms form a beautiful contrast to the grey 

 lichens and brown mosses, which are its only companions on 

 the bare and rugged cliff. To see it in perfection, it must be 

 viewed in its native home, for the free and fearless beauty with 

 which it peers over lofty steeps and looks down into the dark 

 crevices of the rock, is exchanged for a dull, drooping, half 



