LEMON COLUMBINE 
Aquilegia flavescens Watson 
All our native columbines are graceful plants with beautiful flow- 
ers, and the lemon columbine is one of the most attractive species. 
W hen, in midsummer, at the height of its blooming season, it appears 
evetywhere over the mountain slopes, it affords fine displays of col- 
or. At this season the pale lemon-colored flowers ate contrasted with 
large purple asters and other brilliantly tinted blossoms. The flower 
stems rise eighteen inches to three feet above the fernlike basal leaves. 
This species of columbine is frequently found at high altitudes, and 
here the dwarfed flower stems ate often only six inches tall. In cliff 
crevices, with gray rock for a background, it makes entrancing pic- 
tures for those whose eyes observe nature’s wonderful harmonies. 
Lemon columbine ranges from Wyoming to Oregon and north 
to Alberta and British Columbia. 
The specimen sketched was obtained in the Ptarmigan Valley ten 
miles from Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada, at an altitude of 6,000 feet. 
PLATE 201 
