Localities. — In woods, coppices, meadows, and boggy places; frequent. — 
Oxfordsh. Whichwood Forest; Headington- Wick Copse; and in the bog near 
it, abundant ; Stow Wood ; Shotover Hill, near the Ochre Pits; in Sherborne 
Wood ; Stoke great Wood ; Ardley and Tusmore Woods; and in a lane near 
Glympton. — Berks ; about West Woodhay ; in a wood near Besselsleigh ; and 
woods near Streatley —Bedfordsh. In Barton Leat Wood. — Cambridgesh. 
Hinton, Teversham, Triplow, Anglesey Abbey; and Hatley St. George. — 
Cornwall ; St. Ives, Lelant, &c. In hedges near Pillaton ; near Goldsithney ; 
about Falmouth ; and on the side of a common a mile and a half from Bodmin. 
— Cumberland ; In woods and on the borders of lakes. — Derbysh. The dell in 
Calke Park. — Devon-, Near Chudleigh, llsington, Lympstone. Holne Chace, 
and Spitchwick Woods, abundant. Park Hill near Torquay ; Bradley Woods, 
and other spots, near Newton ; near Alphington. — Dorset; In Eastbury Woods, 
Gunville. — Durham; In the dene below Dalton-le-Dale ; near Middleton-in- 
Teesdale; at Baydales near Darlington ; in Castle Eden Dene; by Pontburn 
near Medomsley ; and at Barley Haugh near Ebchester. In Hesledon Dene 
and in Portrack Lane, half way to Norton. On Ramps Holm, in Derwent- 
water, and in woods at the head of that lake. — Essex ; Little Beddow Com- 
mon ; and at Danbury.— Gloucestersh. St. Vincent’s Rocks, Bristol. — Kent; 
Near Cuxton ; in woods above Slowting. In Badgen Wood, and beyond White- 
hill, Ospringe. — Lancash. Sea shore in Low Furness. — Middlesex; Pastures 
about Harefield. — Norfolk; Near Bedingham, and Swaffham. — Northamp- 
tonsh. Woods between Wansford and Kingscliffe. — Northumberland ; By the 
Ousebourn in Heaton Dene; and on the banks of the river Derwent near 
Allan’s-ford. In Willington Dene, by the path from Wallsend ; and in Dilslon 
Park near Hexham. — Notts ; In Asply Close ; also in that part of Asply Wood 
which joins the close. — Somersetsh. In a wood by the side of the field behind 
the farm-house on Claverton Down. — Staff ordsh. Near Botley. — Suffolk ; Near 
Bungay. — Surrey ; W imbledon Common ; Norwood Common ; and Box Hill. — 
Warwicksh. Woods near Allesley. — Worcestersh. By the side of a stream 
near Newland. On the banks of Dowlass Brook, in Wire Foiest. In Bewdley 
Forest, Shrawley Wood, and about Leigh Sinton. Yorksh. Upper part of 
Girling Trough, near Conistone, Kilnsay, and near Wensley. — WALES. 
Anglesey ; In Penmon Deer-park ; between Pont y Brenin and Llangoed Mill ; 
and in the old Park near Beauraares. Woods of Plas Newydd. — Flintsh. On 
rocks by the Menai, and in the grounds at Penrhyn Castle, near Bangor. Com- 
mon in Monmouthshire. — Not unfrequent in SCOTLAND and IRELAND. 
Perennial. — Flowers in June and July. 
Root somewhat tuberous. Stem upright, 2 to 3 feet high, 
branched, leafy, round, bearing several flowers. Leaves smooth, 
glaucous beneath, those from the root on long petioles, twice ter- 
nate ; leaflets broadly wedge-shaped, bluntly lobed and cut ; those 
on the stem more simple, and almost sessile. Flowers drooping, 
generally of a light blue or pale pink in a wild state, on purplish, 
somewhat downy stalks. Sepals pointed. Petals much incurved at 
the end of the spur. Germens and Capsules hairy. Seeds black. 
This plant has long been cultivated in our gardens, on account of the beauty 
of its blossoms, which sport exceedingly in colour. Mr. Phillips observes in 
Flora Historica, v. ii. p. 119, that it is a curious character in the natural his- 
tory of this plant that it should take three distinct modes of doubling its flowers; 
viz. by the multiplication of the sepals, to the exclusion of the petals; by the 
increase of the petals, to the exclusion of the sepals; and liequently by the 
multiplication of the petals, w hile the sepals remain. ’The elongated and in- 
curved spur of the petals seems to bid defiance to the entrance of the bee in 
seaich of the hidden treasure; but the admirable ingenuity of the sagacious insect 
is not to be thus defeated, for on ascertaining the impracticability of effecting 
his usual admission, with his proboscis, he actually penetrates the petals near 
the depot of honey, and thus extracts the latent sweets without further difficulty. 
Its medicinal qualities were once deemed considerable, but are not well defined, 
and in some instances it is said to have proved fatal to children. See Wither- 
ed. — Hudson’s Aquilegia alpina is only a smaller variety of this, with the 
spur of the petals extended, and but little incurved ; and the stem usually single- 
flowered. It is quite distinct from A. alpina of Linnjeus, which has blossoms 
double the size. 
The drawing for the accompanying plate was made from a specimen gathered 
on Shotover Hill, near Oxford, July, 1836. 
