Aquilegia glandulosa explained

Aquilegia glandulosa, the Altai columbine or Siberian columbine, is a perennial species of flowering plant in the family Ranunculaceae, native to northern and central Asia.

Description

Aquilegia glandulosa is a compact species, growing to only . Its basal leaves are narrow, blue-green, and biternate. The flowers measure in diameter and have blue sepals and white or blue petals with nectar spurs of . The species is very similar to Aquilegia flabellata, the fan columbine, differing in having pubescent pistils and strongly hooked incurved spurs.

Taxonomy

Aquilegia glandulosa appears to be most closely related to Aquilegia sibirica, also known as the Siberian columbine, from which it probably diverged in the mid-Pleistocene.

Etymology

The specific epithet glandulosa means "glandular, having glands" in Latin.

Distribution and habitat

The species is native to north-central Asia, including Russia (Altai, Buryatia, Irkutsk Oblast, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Sakha Republic, Tuva, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, and Zabaykalsky Krai), Kazakhstan, Mongolia, India (Jammu and Kashmir), and China (Xinjiang). It grows in alpine meadows, and more rarely in forest zones, along stream-banks and on rocks, at altitudes of .

Ecology

Aquilegia glandulosa flowers between June and August.

Conservation

The species has not been assessed for the IUCN Red List.