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Aquilegia chrysantha
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Order:	Ranunculales
Family:	Ranunculaceae
Genus:	Aquilegia
Species:	A. chrysantha
Binomial name
	Aquilegia chrysantha; A.Gray
Synonyms
	List Aquilegia coerulea var. chrysantha (A.Gray) Rapaics; Aquilegia formosa var. chrysantha (A.Gray) Brühl; Aquilegia leptoceras var. chrysantha (A.Gray) Hook.f.; Aquilegia chrysantha f. pleiocalcarata B.Boivin; Aquilegia chrysantha var. rydbergii Munz; Aquilegia leptoceras var. flava A.Gray; Aquilegia leptoceras var. lutea Mast. & T.Moore; Aquilegia thalictrifolia Rydb.; ;

Aquilegia chrysantha, the golden columbine, is a perennial herbaceous flowering plant native to the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico.^[1] The plant, with a height of between 40 centimetres (16 in) and 120 centimetres (47 in), has yellow flowers. A. chrysantha. as with other members of the Aquilegia coerulea species complex, is evolved for pollination by hawkmoth. It favors moist environments in its mountainous range.

Description

The ferny leaves have three leaflets with three lobes and grow from the base and off the flowering stems. The flowers grow on a long stem above the leaves and have five pointed yellow sepals and five yellow petals with long spurs of around 6.7 cm (2.6 in)^[2] projecting backwards between the sepals.^[3] Its sepals of 20 millimetres (0.79 in) to 35 millimetres (1.4 in) can be spreading, lanceolate, or somewhat oval.^[4]^: 75 At the center of the flower are many yellow stamens.^[3] The height of the plant's flowering stems range from 40 centimetres (16 in) to 120 centimetres (47 in) tall. Flowers are golden yellow.^[4]^: 75

Taxonomy

Aquilegia chrysantha is part of the Aquilegia coerulea species complex adapted for hawkmoth pollination. It belongs to a likely monophyletic group with the other North American columbine species, which diverged from their closest relatives in East Asia in the mid-Pliocene around 3.8 million years ago.^[5] North of the Grand Canyon, A. chrysantha intergrades with A coerulea var. pinetorum.^[4]^: 75

The species was first assigned the binomial nomenclature Aquilegia chrysantha in 1873. Its type locality is in the Organ Mountains of New Mexico.^[4]^: 75

The closely related Aquilegia chaplinei is considered a dwarf version of A. chrysantha that is better suited to arid environments.^[4]^: 74^[6]^: 157 In 1985, Emily J. Lott proposed reclassifying A. chaplinei 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.^[7] 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.^[8]

Etymology

The specific epithet chrysantha is Latin for "golden-flowered".^[4]^: 75

Distribution and habitat

The species is native to the southwestern United States from extreme southern Utah to Texas, including Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico, and to Sonora, Chihuahua, and Coahuila in northwestern Mexico.^[1] It grows in moist habitats in mountainous regions.^[2]

The population of A. chrysantha in south-central Colorado is unusually disjunct from the rest of the species's range. This population usually possess smaller flowers. They have sepals extending only 10 millimetres (0.39 in) to 18 millimetres (0.71 in) long and spurs only 35 millimetres (1.4 in) to 40 millimetres (1.6 in) long. This population is sometimes recognized as a separate variety, A. chrysantha var. rydbergii, but this distinction is not recognized in the Flora of North America.^[4]^: 75

A population of columbines from the Baboquivari Mountains of southern Arizona has been the subject debate regarding its speciation. While occasionally described as a variety of A. chrysantha, its has also been classified part of the species Aquilegia longissima.^[4]^: 75

Ecology

Aquilegia chrysantha flowers in May and early June. It is chiefly pollinated by the hawkmoth species Eumorpha achemon, the Achemon sphinx moth, and also by moths of the Sphinx genus. It is occasionally visited by large bees and hummingbirds.^[2]

Conservation

As of October 2024^[update], NatureServe did not give a worldwide or United States-wide conservation status for A. chrysantha. In individual states, it is listed as Critically Imperiled (S1) in Utah, Imperiled (S2) in Colorado and Nevada, Vulnerable (S3) in Arizona and New Mexico, and is given no status rank (SNR) in Texas.^[9]

Cultivation

A. chrysantha, recognized for its large flowers, is the parent to a number of garden hybrids. Some, such as the white 'Alba', were given pseudo-botanical names in the 19th century.^[4]^: 76 The cultivar 'Yellow Queen' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.^[3] Often sold as A. chrysantha, Yellow Queen is recognized for its massive yellow flowers and long life.^[4]^: 76 Yellow Queen plants prefer moist, well-drained soil of clay, sand, or loam. Flowers bloom May and June in the northern hemisphere, with darker yellow center pedals.^[3]