This is a showy and interesting group. They are all of moderate height, neat in habit, possessing beautiful foliage, and in most cases the flowers are bright and pleasing and their structure is quite interesting. There is a large number of species, but many are not distinct, or at least, their specific characters are not well defined. For ornamental gardening but few species are required, as these unite in themselves the best qualities of the family. They are plants that thrive in almost any situation, though they prefer a moist, rather heavy soil. They are found growing naturally in rocky, moist situations, but they will grow in light, sandy or even gravelly soils, though their flowers will be smaller and deficient in that density of color so manifest in the species. They are readily propagated by division either in spring or autumn, or they can be easily grown from seeds; and if these are sown in boxes in the house or in a hot-bed, and the plants are then transplanted into the open border in June, they will flower the same season.

Aquilegia Alpina (Alpine Columbine)

Aquilegia Alpina (Alpine Columbine) is a native of the Swiss Alps, and one of the best, because of its free-flowering habit. It grows about one foot high, with a large tuft of finely cut leaves at the roots, and rather erect, leafy stems, producing numerous purplish-blue, white-centered flowers.

Aquilegia Californica (Californian Columbine)

Aquilegia Californica (Californian Columbine) is one of the strongest and most beautiful of our native species. It has a tendency to send up one strong woody stem, which, under favorable circumstances, will reach a height of three feet, producing an immense number of flowers. The sepals are orange colored and blue-pointed, being closely pressed to the petals, which are also blunt, giving them the appearance of having been cut with a pair of scissors, which gave rise to one of the specific names, truncata.

Aquilegia Canadensis (Canadian Columbine)

Aquilegia Canadensis (Canadian Columbine) is a species indigenous to the northern states, growing abundantly in dry, rocky uplands. It is a tall, rather graceful species, growing about two feet high, with loose panicles of flowers, bright red, shaded with orange in the centers. Although a native plant, which makes it common, it is one of the most beautiful and showy of border plants.

Aquilegia Chysantha (Golden Columbine)

A native of the Pacific coast; is a tall, vigorous and beautiful species, with clear yellow flowers with a long spur. This species comes into flower nearly a month later, and continues to bloom for a much longer period than any other of the family.

Aquilegia Carrulea (Rocky Mountain Columbine)

Aquilegia Carrulea (Rocky Mountain Columbine) is a distinct species, and remarkable for its beauty. The spurs of the flowers are almost as slender as a thread, about two inches long, with a tendency to twist around each other, and with green tips. But it is in the blue and white erect flower that the beauty lies. Although a perennial in its native habitat, it does not prove so in the east, and should be treated as a biennial. The seeds should be sown in a cool frame as soon as ripe, and the plants be slightly protected during winter and transplanted into the open border in May. It flowers in June.

Aquilegia Glandulosa (Altaian Mountain Columbine)

Aquilegia Glandulosa (Altaian Mountain Columbine) is a remarkable showy and free-flowering species when planted in a congenial situation, which must be moist and shaded. Being a native of Siberia, it will not endure our summer's heat. It grows about two feet high, with abundant foliage ; the flowers are very large, blue and white, and have very long spurs, a beautiful feature of the columbine.

Aquilegia Jocunda

Aquilegia Jocunda is an intermediate form between Aquilegia Alpina and Aquilegia glandulosa, both of which it resembles. The flowers are bright blue, tipped with white. It is perfectly hardy.

Aquilegia Vulgaris

Aquilegia Vulgaris is a native of Europe, and the most common in cottage gardens. It is variable in its character under cultivation, and many beautiful and some extremely curious varieties have sprung from it, particularly the double forms ; of these there are white, pink, lilac, blue, purple, dark crimson, red, yellow and variegated colors, which are exceedingly valuable in the natural arrangement of flowers.