Aquilegia alpina Alpine Columbine
Cultivated in gardens since the middle ages, Columbines have always been a gardeners choice for a herbaceous bed and now there are so many cultivars that a complete range of shapes and colours are available for the enthusiast. This one, Aquilegia alpina has the distinction of having the largest blooms of any of the natural uncultivated Aquilegia and to see them in the wild is to understand why this species is still a favourite.
Like many plants of the Ranunculeae it is toxic but nothing like the near relatives in the Aconitum genus. Extracts of some Aquilegia species have even been used in experiments to see what extent they can mitigate some metabolic disorders.
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| Aquilegia alpina Alpine Columbine |
Val de Fain, Engadine, Switzerland 6th July 2010
Added on 22nd July 2010, updated 6th November 2014