Jlquilegia Canadensis. 13 1 



horn-shaped, dilated below into an obtuse point; carmine-red, tip- 

 ped with shining green and gamboge-yellow at the open or de- 

 scending end Stamens numerous, filiform, straw-yellow. Anthers 

 orange-yellow. Pistils greenish -yellow. Peduncles reddish -purple. 

 Grows on rocks, from Canada to Georgia. Flowering very early in 

 April, and continuing in bloom till about the 20th of May. 



This very elegant, well-known, and favourite flower, is the only 

 North American species of a genus, (called also Aquilina, from 

 Aquila, an eagle,) which derives its name from a fancied resem- 

 blance in the nectaries to an eagle's claws. The common English 

 name Columbine, by which it is every where known, has had its 

 origin in a supposed resemblance of the nectaries to the claws of a 

 pigeon, (Columba.) However remote these resemblances may ap- 

 pear now, they have been considered sufficiently striking to the 

 minds of those who classed our plants by genera, and who, 'it will 

 readily be conceived, often found considerable difficulty in adapting 

 appellations at once proper and expressive. 



Few plants in North America, are more extensively known ancl 

 admired than the Wild or American Columbine. The richness of 

 the different colours, which constitute the flowers, the peculiar for- 

 mation of the nectaries, and the entire grace of the whole plant, to 

 which the drooping situation of the flowers greatly contributes, all 

 combine to render it equally curious and admirable. It is the 



