A. chaplinei's leaves are in a basal arrangement (sprouting from base of the shoot) and give the plant a fern-like appearance when not flowering. Its flowers are pale yellow. It is named for W. R. Chapline, the first person to collect the plant and who collected the holotype from Sitting Bull Falls in New Mexico in 1916.[4]: 74 [5]: 157
Description
A preserved specimen of A. chaplinei from the Guadalupe Mountain in Texas
Aquilegia chaplinei is a perennial plant with a height from 20 centimetres (7.9 in) to 50 centimetres (20 in),[6] averaging 40 centimetres (16 in) tall. This is somewhat shorter than the closely related Aquilegia chrysantha, which can reach up to 120 centimetres (47 in) tall.[4]: 74–75 A. chaplinei's type locality at an altitude of 1,650 metres (5,410 ft) suggests that it is better adapted than A. chrysantha to arid environments.[5]: 157 A. chaplinei has a slender stem that is glabrous (smooth) with the exception of the inflorescence.[5]: 156
Possessing leaves in a basal arrangement (sprouting from base of the shoot), A. chaplinei has leaves which extend on slender petioles that are 7 centimetres (2.8 in) to 10 centimetres (3.9 in) long.[5]: 156 The leaves themselves range from bi- to barely triternately compound. A. chaplinei has a fern-like appearance when not flowering.[5]: 156 [4]: 74–75 The leaves are semi-evergreen.[3]
It has pale yellow flowers. Its spurs range from 30 millimetres (1.2 in) to 40 millimetres (1.6 in) and can be slender, straight, or slightly spreading.[4]: 74 The short spurs and sepals under 2 centimeters long – between 13 millimetres (0.51 in) and 16 millimetres (0.63 in)[4]: 74 – are the primary distinguishing features that separate A. chaplinei from A. chrysantha.[3]A. chaplinei has yellow sepals.[7]
Breeding is performed through its unisexual flowers, meaning that individual flowers exclusively possess either stamen or carpels, making it monoecious.[3] Its seeds are nearly 2 millimetres (0.079 in) long.[8]: 139
Taxonomy
The holotype of Aquilegia chaplinei was collected at Sitting Bull Falls (pictured) in May 1916.
In 1985, Emily J. Lott proposed reclassifying the plant as Aquilegia chrysantha var. chaplinei in the journal Phytologia. Lott's proposal came out of her study of plants in the Chihuahuan Desert, stemming from her 1979 unpublished master's thesis on Aquilegia in the Trans-Pecos region of Texas.[10] The name proposed by Lott was not broadly accepted outside of Texas,[4]: 74 where it is used by the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center of the University of Texas at Austin.[3]
Distribution
The species is endemic to the Guadalupe Mountains of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico in the West South Central United States.[2] The Guadalupe Mountains are an extremely arid environment, and A. chaplinei is found where the ground is moist such as along streams, canyons, and at the base of rocks.[6][4]: 74 It is also native to the New Mexican Sacramento Mountains.[3] The New Mexican range extends across the counties of Eddy and Otero.[11]
Conservation
A. chaplinei is considered a rare plant within its natural range.[3][11] The Flora of North America lists the species as of conservation concern.[7] The University of New Mexico's Rare New Mexico Plants considers A. chaplinei "effectively conserved" and identifies human water management as a threat to the species. The plant's NatureServe conservation status as S2 in both New Mexico and Texas and G2, meaning the state and global populations of the species are "imperiled".[1] The Bureau of Land Management categorizes the plant as a "sensitive" species.[11]
Cultivation
In 1946, American botanist Philip A. Munz wrote that he was unaware of A. chaplinei being available for sale.[8]: 141 As of 2003[update], both seeds and plants were sometimes available, particularly from native plant nurseries in the region of A. chaplinei's native range.[4]: 74
Notes
^Other names for the flower include Chaplin's yellow columbine, Chaplin's golden columbine, Chapline columbine, and Guadalupe Mountain columbine[3]
