Aquilegia brevistyla (Small-Flowered Columbine) - photos and description
General: Plants with a slender growth habit, and having simple stems. The stems are sparingly hairy.
Flowers: Showy purple and white flowers on long flower stems. The flowers are nodding, long-spurred, we measured a flower at 1.8 cm long and 2.5 cm diameter.
Leaves: Leaves mostly basal, trifoliate, the leaflets wedge-shaped, lobed, typical leaflet measured at 5.5 cm wide. Stem leaves similar, reduced in size upwards, alternate. Leaflets glabrous, petioles pubescent.
Height: Height listed in Budd's Flora to 50 cm. We measured plants to 68 cm tall.
Habitat: Forest edges in eastern Saskatchewan.
Abundance: Listed as common in Checklist of the Vascular Plants of Saskatchewan, this plant is uncommon in my experience.
Origin: Native.
When and where photographed: Photos were taken on June 19th and July 3rd, moist mixed woods, boreal Forest, 450 km northeast of Regina, SK, and roadside in mixed forest, 300 km northeast our home in Regina, SK.