BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Aquilegia canadensis | Wild Columbine 



GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS : 
Wild columbine is a perennial herb 12 to 30 inches (30-80 cm) tall,
growing from a stout caudex.  The stamens are long and exserted, the
fruit is erect with five parallel ascending follicles with ultimately
outcurving summits.  Wild columbine has a short, erect underground stem
and fibrous, short-lived roots [1,2,7,15].  Some authors report
vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizae; others report no association [2].


RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM : 
   Hemicryptohyte


REGENERATION PROCESSES : 
Wild columbine perennates from a stout caudex.  Reproduction takes place
from seed; no vegetative reproduction has been reported [7].


SITE CHARACTERISTICS : 
Wild columbine generally occupies open sites that are steep and rocky
but somewhat moist, such as wooded bluffs of streams, wooded slopes,
streambanks, banks and slopes of deep ravines, limestone bluffs and
ledges, borders and clearings in deciduous or mixed woods or thickets
[6,16,17].  It is found on thin soils over granitic bedrock, steep
hillsides of thin loess over limestone or quartzite bedrock, and on
gravelly glacial moraine [4].


SUCCESSIONAL STATUS : 
Falcultative Seral Species

Wild columbine is moderately shade intolerant [1,2,3,5,8].  It is
sometimes abundant on roadsides, sandbanks, or recent excavations [17].


SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT : 
Wild columbine begins growth early in spring.  Flowering occurs from
March to July, fruiting from June to August, seed release in early to
mid autumn [12].  Aboveground portions of the plant become senescent in
mid to late autumn, dying back to the caudex [1,7].

Related categories for Species: Aquilegia canadensis | Wild Columbine