Columbine and Wood Lily: Two Wildflower Beauties

I think that the Blue Columbine (Aquilegia coerulea) and the Rocky Mountain Wood Lily (Lilium philadelphicum) are two of the loveliest wildflowers in the Colorado mountains. Here is why I place them at the top of my list of flowers I love to see in their natural settings.

Blue Columbine

Columbines are graceful flowers, 2-3 inches wide with five sepals and five petals that extend backward to form spurs. Sepals are commonly blue, as the name suggests, but may vary from deep blue through light blue to white. You have probably seen many of the domesticated varieties in gardens, and they are beautiful, but I have never seen one as lovely as the plants that grow in their natural environment.

I photographed this all-white columbine in an aspen grove beside a rushing mountain stream, returning to this spot on July 4th for three years in a row before I found just the right flower in just the right light. It was worth every mosquito bite I got. When I look at the photo, I can still hear the sound of the water cascading over rocks and see those white flowers among white aspen trunks.

Columbines were first collected and recorded by a botanist, Dr. Edwin James, on the first expedition to climb and explore Pikes Peak in 1820. In 1899, the Blue Columbine was designated to be the state flower of Colorado. This plant once grew in great profusion at elevations of 6,000 to 9,000 feet. Unfortunately, as more and more people came to the mountains, it was picked and dug by admirers until its decrease became alarming. In 1925, a state law was passed to protect the columbine. Now, with population increasing at a faster and faster rate, habitat destruction is one of the greatest problems for Colorado's state flower.

Rocky Mountain Wood Lily

I chose the Wood Lily picture to appear on my Welcome page because this vibrant, red-orange blossom is the most spectacular and rare wildflower I have seen in the Colorado mountains. I know it is rare because it is listed in the Rare Plants of Colorado, 2nd edition, 1997, and every other account I have read agrees that their numbers are scarce.

This plant of moist meadows or aspen groves grows at an elevation of 7,000 to 9,000 feet. From a bulb, the stalk grows to a height of one or two feet and the uppermost leaves form a circle around the stalk from which the flower emerges. Each plant produces big, red-orange flowers that are 4-5 inches across. The center of the cup is yellow with dark purple spots.

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