Species of flowering plant in the family Ranunculaceae
Aquilegia cossoniana is a perennial flowering plant in the family Ranunculaceae, native to the Atlas Mountains in northwestern Africa.[1]
Description
Aquilegia cossoniana is a perennial herb, closely resembling Aquilegia viscosa but with larger leaves and flowers, and 4–5 or more flowering stems.[2]
Taxonomy
The species was first described as a variety cossoniana of the common columbine, Aquilegia vulgaris, by René Maire and Frère Sennen in 1934. It was later reassessed as a subspecies of A. vulgaris by Alain Dobignard and Denis Jordan in 1987, and finally as a species in its own right by Salvador Rivas Martínez in 2011.[1]
Etymology
The specific epithet cossoniana honours the French botanist Ernest Cosson. In their 1934 description of the plant as a variety of Aquilegia vulgaris, Maire and Sennen noted its similarity to A. vulgaris var. viscosa, as described by Cosson in his work Compendium florae Atlanticae. They differentiated var. cossoniana by its taller stature, larger leaves, much larger flowers, and greater number of flowering stems.[2]
Distribution and habitat
Aquilegia cossoniana is native to northern Morocco and northern Algeria.[1] It was recorded by René Maire and Frère Sennen in their 1934 description as growing in several locations in the Atlas Mountains: in Morocco, on Jbel Tidirhine and near Ketama; and in Algeria in the Djurdjura range, in mountains near Akfadou, and in the Babor Mountains.[2]
Conservation
As of December 2024[update], the species has not been assessed for the IUCN Red List.[3]
References
|
|---|
| Aquilegia cossoniana | |
|---|
| Aquilegia vulgaris var. cossoniana | |
|---|
