This lifeform is widespread in North America. This lifeform is widespread, but not common.

Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) is one of the most unusual of North American wildflowers. The five long curved spurs behind the flower help with its identification. The orange and yellow coloration make this a truly wonderful wildflower. The species is found throughout the northern part of eastern North America.

Columbines are found widely in North America and also in the Old World. The unique five backward, elongated, knob-tipped petals are very characteristic. Kartesz lists the following 19 North American species. Since A. shockleyi is treated as a full species in the California floras, it is included on the list below, which also includes suggested common names, regions and, whenever possible, an identifying characteristic (not all of the many recognized subspecies are listed). An asterisk indicates the species is pictured in herein.

SPECIES       COMMON NAME    LOCALE           CHARACTERISTIC

barnebyi                     ???
bevistyla                    AK to SD
*canadensis                   east N. America   Unique in East
*chysantha   Golden           CO, NM,& AZ       Clear Yellow
                              Mexico
coerulea                     Colorado Rockies  Variable Color

desertorum                   Arizona
elegantula  Western Red      CO,NM & UT        Red\Yellow
                              Mexico
*exima                        s. CA             Scarlet/Red
flavescens  Northern Yellow  WY & north        Yellow-Pink
*formosa     Western Red      NW USA & Cal      Red\Yellow
                              & Baja
jonesii     Jones            n. WY & MT        Blue flowers
laramiensis
longissima                   TX, AZ,           Pale Yellow
                              and Mexico
micrantha                    CO,UT and AZ      Cream
pubescens                    CA                Cream, Yellow,
                                                Pink
saximontana  Alpine          Colorado          Small species
shockleyi                    SE CA             Yellow red to red
scopulorum   Rock            WY, UT, NV        Alpine species
triternata                   CO, NM and AZ
*vulgaris     Garden          Europe            Variable

A. formosa has been sometimes considered a subspecies of A. canadensis.

A. schockleyi is frequently referred to as A. formosa ssp. dissecta and others)

A. vulgaris is an European species that is frequently used in gardens. There are many color varieties including white, yellow, and blue. The native European species has a dark blue flower

Aquilegia (Columbine) genus is native to the Northern Hemisphere in both the Old and New Worlds.  There are 70 species of erect branching perennial herbs usually with a woody rootstock in this genus.  The leaves are usually divided into three parts.   The flower is very distinctive.  There are five petals with long to very long backward hollow pointing spurs.  Many of the species are very showy, and several are popular ornamentals. There are 19 species and 20 subspecies growing in greater North America.

Buttercup Family (Ranunculaceae) reaches its greatest development in North America, Europe, and the Orient. The family has approximately 1500 species organized into about thirty-five different genera. With the exception of the Genus Paeonia (which might even belong in a different family) most of the species are soft-stemmed annual or perennial herbs. The leaves are usually alternate (except for Clematis). Flowers may be regular or irregular. In the buttercup family, there are 26 genera with 318 species growing in greater North America.

Ranales Order has been broken down into nineteen different  families. The water lilies, buttercups, magnolias, and other groups are included in this order. Large pretty flowers seem to be a common characteristic of this order.

Dicots (Dicotyledoneae Class) are the predominant group of vascular plants on earth. With the exception of the grasses (Monocots) and the Conifers (Gymnosperms), most of the larger plants that one encounters are  Dicots. Dicots are characterized by having a seed with two outer shell coverings. Some of the more primitive Dicots are the typical hardwood trees (oaks, birches, hickories, etc). The more advanced Dicots include many of the Composite Family flowers like the  Dandelion, Aster, Thistles, and Sunflowers. Although many Monocots reach a very high degree of specialization, most botanists feel that the Dicots represent the most advanced group of plants.

Seed plants (Phylum Embryophyta) are generally grouped into one large phylum containing three major classes: the Gymnosperms, the Monocots, and the Dicots. (Some scientists separate the Gymnosperms into a separate phylum and refer to the remaining plants as flowering plants or Angiospermae.)

For North American counts of the number of species in each genus and family, the primary reference has been John T. Kartesz, author of A Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland (1994). The geographical scope of his lists include, as part of greater North America, Hawaii, Alaska, Greenland, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

Kartesz lists 21,757 species of vascular plants comprising the ferns, gymnosperms and flowering plants as being found in greater North America (including Alaska, Hawaii, Greenland, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands).

There are estimates within the scientific world that about half of the listed North American seed plants were originally native with the balance being comprised of Eurasian and tropical plants that have become established.

Plant kingdom contains a large variety of different organisms including mosses, ferns, and seed plants. Most plants manufacture their energy from sunlight and water. Identification of many species is difficult in that most individual plants have characteristics that have variables based on soil moisture, soil chemistry, and sunlight.

Because of the difficulty in learning and identifying different plant groups, specialists have emerged that study only a limited group of plants. These specialists revise the taxonomy and give us detailed descriptions and ranges of the various species.  Their results are published in technical journals and written with highly specialized words that apply to a specific group.

On the other hand, there are the nature publishers. These people and companies undertake the challenging task of trying to provide easy to use pictures and descriptions to identify those species.