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Discover Nature: Columbine

Red and yellow spur-shaped columbine flowers hang like bells from a stem with small, deep-green leaves.
Flowers of the columbine plant (Aquilegia canadensis) have a distinct shape. The five petals form long, hollow, red spurs containing nectar, and the five sepals are leaflike, light yellow, and attached between the petals.

This week on Discover Nature, a poisonous perennial wildflower shows off bright red- and yellow-blossoming spurs.

   

Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) is in full bloom in Missouri this week. Growing about two-feet tall, often in shaded areas in woodlands and hanging from rock cliffs, this hardy native wildflower is also a favorite among landscape gardeners. 

The plants are toxic for human consumption, but they provide an important food source for humming birds and other pollinators such as butterflies and moths that are able to feed from the deep nectaries inside each flower. 

Native Americans used these plants for various medicinal purposes, and some used them as a love potion by rubbing ground seeds on their palms before grasping the hands of their beloved, or of people they wished to persuade. 

Learn more about columbine, and find public land near you to find these brightly blooming flowers this week with the Missouri Department of Conservation’s online field guide.

Discover Nature is sponsored by the Missouri Department of Conservation.

Kyle Felling’s work at KBIA spans more than three decades. In 2025, he became KBIA and KMUC's Station Manager. He began volunteering at the station while he was a Political Science student at the University of Missouri. After being hired as a full-time announcer, he served as the long-time local host of NPR’s All Things Considered on KBIA, and was Music Director for a number of years. Starting in 2010, Kyle became KBIA’s Program Director, overseeing on-air programming and operations while training and supervising the station’s on-air staff. During that period, KBIA regularly ranked among the top stations in the Columbia market, and among the most listened to stations in the country. He was instrumental in the launch of KBIA’s sister station, Classical 90.5 FM in 2015, and helped to build it into a strong community resource for classical music. Kyle has also worked as an instructor in the MU School of Journalism, training the next generation of journalists and strategic communicators. In his spare time, he enjoys playing competitive pinball, reading comic books and Joan Didion, watching the Kansas City Chiefs, and listening to Bruce Springsteen and the legendary E Street Band.
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