Seeds from Aquilegia flavescens. A Delicate, mainly basal leaves, 3-parted and 2-3 times lobed, subtend the nodding, slender-spurred, yellow flowers of this perennial. Floral spurs incurved to form hooks. The plant may be simple-stemmed or branched and rises 8-30 in. in height. A bushy, yellow mountain wildflower. A usually yellow-flowered columbine of western North American mountains from British Columbia and Alberta south to Utah at elevations of 1300 to 3500 meters. An attractive option for cool, shady gardens within that region, its flowers range from whitish to yellow, sometimes tinged with pink, especially where its populations mingle with A. formosa. Although the ranges of A. flavescens and A. formosa largely overlap, the two plants rarely grow in immediate proximity, the former requiring a more alpine habitat. Where they do coexist, they often cross freely, producing an intermediate phase that has been called A. flavescens var. miniana. In this variety the sepals are pinkish. The genus name Aquilegia comes from the Latin, aquila, which means eagle and refers to the spurred petals that many believe resemble an eagles talons. Zones 3-8