Species
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Aquilegia canadensis L.

American columbine, American columbine, Canada columbine, Colorado columbine

Climate known 58 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Aquilegia canadensis, the Canadian columbine, Canada columbine, eastern red columbine, or wild columbine, is a species of flowering plant in the buttercup family. It is a perennial plant that is native to the woodlands and rocky areas in eastern North America in both the United States and southern Canada. It readily hybridizes with other plants in the columbine genus and is a common garden plant.

Text from Wikipedia, “Aquilegia canadensis”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Aquilegia

Aquilegia, commonly known as columbines, is a genus of perennial flowering plants in subfamily Thalictroideae of the family Ranunculaceae (buttercups). The genus includes between 70 and 400 taxa with natural ranges across the Northern Hemisphere. Natural and introduced populations of Aquilegia exist on all continents but Antarctica. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Aquilegia”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Ranunculaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario +38
Wild records
1920 in range· 360 open

At a glance

Warmest month
27°C
Jul, mean day; nights 18 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1045mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jun 108 mm (CHELSA)
Light
10–40DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (April to November in the northern hemisphere). Habitat rain 1045 mm a year, wettest June at 108 mm, driest February at 63 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 10 to 40 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -17.3 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Aquilegia australis Small; Aquilegia canadensis f. albiflora House; Aquilegia canadensis f. ecalcarata Livingston; Aquilegia canadensis f. flaviflora (Tenney) Britton; Aquilegia canadensis f. flaviflora (Tenney) Britton ex House and 26 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (April to November in the northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (768 mm of 1045 mm) takes 8 months, April to November. Mean temperature moves 26.8 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: October to May.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1045 mm a year, wettest June at 108 mm, driest February at 63 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1045 mm a year at the habitat, 768 mm of it April to November. Wettest month June at 108 mm, driest February at 63 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 806 mm to 1335 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 10 to 40 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 10 to 40 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 8, the highest 90th-percentile month 42).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -17.3 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -17.3 °C, the absolute minimum -27.5 °C, about 145 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 32.5 °C. Monthly means: coldest night -8.3 °C in January (across the envelope cells -14.6 °C to -2.0 °C), warmest day 27.1 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -17.3 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 56 to 62% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from -1 °C in Jan to 27 °C in Jul; mean night from -8 °C in Jan to 18 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1045 mm of rain a year, most in Jun. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 1445 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -27.5 °C and the 99th-percentile day 32.5 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°frost32.5° 99th-percentile day (undated)-27.5° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125150mm rainDLI 10–40RH 56–62 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 1445 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C-1 / -6–71 / -4–97 / 1–1414 / 9–2020 / 15–2425 / 21–2927 / 24–3126 / 23–3022 / 19–2615 / 12–208 / 4–142 / -3–8
Night °C-8 / -15–-2-8 / -13–-1-3 / -7–43 / 0–910 / 7–1415 / 13–1918 / 16–2117 / 15–2114 / 11–177 / 5–112 / -3–5-5 / -11–-0
Rain mm68 / 23–9963 / 22–9869 / 43–11689 / 66–114100 / 80–130108 / 84–128106 / 81–12797 / 81–12196 / 82–11687 / 67–11685 / 47–11677 / 30–116
DLI12 / 10–1618 / 17–2126 / 25–2833 / 31–3537 / 36–3940 / 38–4239 / 37–4234 / 33–3627 / 24–3019 / 16–2312 / 9–1710 / 8–14
RH %62 / 57–6560 / 56–6457 / 55–6056 / 54–5857 / 55–5958 / 57–6159 / 57–6160 / 58–6159 / 57–6159 / 57–6160 / 57–6362 / 57–65

Each figure is the median across the 1445 grid cells holding the 1812 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 948:1891 (42.575, -85.425). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -27.5 °C, 1st-percentile night -17.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 32.5 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 1445 distinct grid cells holding the 1812 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 948:1891 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 42.50_-85.625, lapse-corrected +34 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 281 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeManitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Québec, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode I., Vermont, West Virginia, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Mexico Northeast
Kew's description“perennial” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker41.316, -73.988 · in the densest population, 925 records (48% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1920 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 360 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 15 km away. 108 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 1920 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Aquilegia canadensisAquilegia canadensisAquilegia canadensisAquilegia canadensisAquilegia canadensisAquilegia canadensisAquilegia canadensisAquilegia canadensis

Photographs: (c) Andrew Lai, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Daughter Dad, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Jessica Williams, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Tom Scavo, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) christine123, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Aquilegia canadensis, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Phenological changes reflect climate change in Wisconsin
Nina Leopold Bradley, A. C. Leopold, John Ross, Wellington Huffaker (1999) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Genetic cost of reproductive assurance in a self-fertilizing plant
Christopher R. Herlihy, Christopher G. Eckert (2002) · Nature
Plant Mating Systems Often Vary Widely Among Populations
Michael R. Whitehead, Robert Lanfear, Randall J. Mitchell, Jeffrey D. Karron (2018) · Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
The Bee Fauna of Residential Gardens in a Suburb of New York City (Hymenoptera: Apoidea)
Evelyn D Fetridge, John S Ascher, Gail Langellotto (2008) · Annals of the Entomological Society of America
Visitation by Wild and Managed Bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) to Eastern U.S. Native Plants for Use in Conservation Programs
Julianna K. Tuell, Anna K. Fiedler, Douglas A. Landis, Rufus Isaacs (2008) · Environmental Entomology
Stemphylium revisited
J.H.C. Woudenberg, B. Hanse, G. C. M. van Leeuwen, J.Z. Groenewald (2017) · Studies in Mycology
Effects of marginality on plant population performance
Thomas Abeli, Rodolfo Gentili, Andrea Mondoni, Simone Orsenigo (2013) · Journal of Biogeography
Attractiveness of Michigan Native Plants to Arthropod Natural Enemies and Herbivores
Anna K. Fiedler, Douglas A. Landis (2007) · Environmental Entomology

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Aquilegia 5 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 55 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.