Index / Search / Aquilegia coerulea
§1 Plant
Aquilegia coerulea James
vernacular Colorado blue columbine — species · Ranunculaceae
§2Habit & range
Habit and range
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb
- Duration
- Perennial
- Group
- Dicot
- Family
- Ranunculaceae Juss.
- Genus
- Aquilegia
§2a
Native status, by region
- L48 Lower 48 States Native
§2b
County-level range
· 98 counties across 8 states/territories§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Drought
- Low
- Shade
- Low
- Moisture use
- Medium
- Fire
- Low
- Salinity
- None
- Anaerobic
- Low
- CaCO₃
- Medium
- Hedging
- None
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- -28 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 130 min.
- Precipitation
- 12–40 in/yr
- pH range
- 6.2–8.4
- Root depth
- 10 in min.
- Fertility need
- Medium
- Soil texture
- coarse, medium
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Single Crown
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Lifespan
- Short
- Mature height
- 2 ft
- Foliage texture
- Fine
- Foliage colour
- Green
- Porosity (summer)
- Porous
- Porosity (winter)
- Porous
- Flower colour
- Blue
- Fruit colour
- Brown
- Fire resistant
- No
- N fixation
- None
- Toxicity
- None
§3d
Reproduction
- Bloom period
- Late Spring
- Seed abundance
- Medium
- Seed begins
- Spring
- Seed ends
- Summer
- Spread rate
- Moderate
- Stratify
- Yes
- Seeds / lb
- 399,600
- Propagation
- seed
§3e
Use & availability
- Commercial availability
- Routinely Available
- Nursery stock
- Yes
- Browse palatability
- Low
- Graze palatability
- Low
- Palatable, human
- No
- Protein potential
- Low
- Lumber
- No
- Christmas tree
- No
§4Counties, by state
Recorded in 98 counties across 8 states/territories.
Arizona view state ↗ 3 N ▾
Colorado view state ↗ 37 N ▾
- Alamosa 08003
- Boulder 08013
- Chaffee 08015
- Clear Creek 08019
- Conejos 08021
- Custer 08027
- Delta 08029
- Douglas 08035
- Eagle 08037
- El Paso 08041
- Fremont 08043
- Garfield 08045
- Gilpin 08047
- Grand 08049
- Gunnison 08051
- Hinsdale 08053
- Huerfano 08055
- Jackson 08057
- Jefferson 08059
- La Plata 08067
- Lake 08065
- Larimer 08069
- Mesa 08077
- Mineral 08079
- Montezuma 08083
- Montrose 08085
- Otero 08089
- Ouray 08091
- Park 08093
- Pitkin 08097
- Rio Blanco 08103
- Rio Grande 08105
- Routt 08107
- Saguache 08109
- San Juan 08111
- San Miguel 08113
- Teller 08119
Idaho view state ↗ 2 N ▾
Montana view state ↗ 4 N ▾
Nevada view state ↗ 4 N ▾
New Mexico view state ↗ 8 N ▾
Utah view state ↗ 29 N ▾
- Beaver 49001
- Box Elder 49003
- Cache 49005
- Carbon 49007
- Daggett 49009
- Davis 49011
- Duchesne 49013
- Emery 49015
- Garfield 49017
- Grand 49019
- Iron 49021
- Juab 49023
- Kane 49025
- Millard 49027
- Morgan 49029
- Piute 49031
- Rich 49033
- Salt Lake 49035
- San Juan 49037
- Sanpete 49039
- Sevier 49041
- Summit 49043
- Tooele 49045
- Uintah 49047
- Utah 49049
- Wasatch 49051
- Washington 49053
- Wayne 49055
- Weber 49057
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/AQCO ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/3033188 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26
fetched 2026-05-26T20:46:58Z