Wild columbine, by other titles including Canadian columbine and red columbine, has a uniquely-structured flower. Botanist Theodore Cochrane describes this flower with “exquisite, and unlike anything else in our flora.” He goes on in his book Prairie Plants of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum as “five petals being prolonged backward into a long spur.” The genus name, Aquilegia, from Latin for an eagle’s claw, and other things, too. With these superlatives there are some negatives but not for those wanting to look and ponder the unknown that suggest alkaloids that make the plants poisonous but not to look, touch or photograph. Transplanting is best done by taking a few ready seeds from the dry fruit pod and sprinkle them about and scratch the soil.
