Long-spur columbine

Stems 25-90 cm. Basal leaves 3×-ternately compound, 20-45 cm, usually shorter than stems; leaflets green adaxially, to 20-40 mm, not viscid; primary petiolules 28-82 mm (leaflets not crowded), glabrous or sometimes pilose. Flowers erect; sepals perpendicular to floral axis, pale yellow, lanceolate, 25-40 × 6-11 mm, apex narrowly acute or acuminate; petals: spurs pale yellow, straight, ± parallel, 72-180 mm, very slender, evenly tapered from base, blades pale yellow, spatulate, 15-30 × 7-11 mm; stamens 20-33 mm. Follicles 24-31 mm; beak 16-26 mm.

Flowering summer (Jul-Sep). Near streams or in damp rocky places in canyons; 1370-1520 m; Ariz., Tex.; ne Mexico.

R. B. Miller (1985) suggested that Arizona reports of Aquilegia longissima are based on "unusually long-spurred individuals of A . chrysantha ," but it is not clear on what characters he based his interpretation. Specimens from Arizona's Baboquivari Mountains have spurs 8-10 cm long, far outside the range of A . chrysantha , and seem correctly identified as A . longissima .