Columbine

Columbines make up the genus Aquilegia, perennials of the buttercup family whose wild species range across the Northern Hemisphere and which cross so readily that gardens hold a great many varieties. They rise from slender woody rootstocks, with leaves divided into threes and nodding flowers whose five petals usually end in hollow, nectar-filled spurs pointing backwards. European species run to blue and purple, North American ones to red and yellow. The flowers name the plant: the Latin aquila, eagle, for the talon-like spurs, and columba, dove, for flowers likened to doves. The Saxons called it culverwort for the same reason, and Northcote notes that the old name culverkeys was at times given to it. Greek and Roman tradition linked it to Aphrodite and Venus, but its horn-shaped spurs later made it an emblem of cuckoldry in England, where giving a woman columbine was an insult, and Ophelia includes it among the flowers she hands out in Hamlet. Several North American peoples, by contrast, put the seeds in love charms. Its old name lion's herb comes from the belief that lions ate it for courage. Magically it is carried, or rubbed on the hands, for daring, and the crushed seeds serve as a love perfume or are kept in a pocket to steady the emotions.