Aquilegia viridiflora Seeds | Chocolate Columbine
LATIN NAME: Aquilegia viridiflora
COMMON NAME: Chocolate Columbine, Green Columbine
Plant Profile
Chocolate columbine is an unusual herbaceous perennial of the buttercup family, native to China, Mongolia and Siberia, where it grows on rocky slopes and at the edges of woodland. It reaches twenty to forty centimetres, with delicate, divided leaves and nodding, short-spurred flowers in dusky chocolate-purple and green, opening in late spring.
The flowers are small by columbine standards and they face downwards, so the colour is seen against the foliage rather than against the sky. They have a faint, sweet scent that is strongest in the evening, and the spurs are short and hooked rather than the long tails of the garden hybrids. The plant is clump-forming and short-lived, and it seeds about freely where it is happy.
Science & Biotechnology
Aquilegia is a model genus for the study of adaptation and speciation. The length of the spur determines which pollinators can reach the nectar, and the genus has radiated into a range of spur lengths that match the tongues of bees, hawkmoths and hummingbirds. Aquilegia viridiflora, with its short spurs, belongs to the group pollinated by bees rather than moths.
The species is one of the Asian columbines that have been used in breeding for unusual flower colour, and its dusky green and brown pigments are uncommon in the genus, most of whose species are blue, red or yellow. The plant is a tetraploid, as are several of its Asian relatives, and it crosses readily with other columbines in cultivation, so garden seed is often of hybrid origin.
Uses & Benefits
It is grown as a collector’s plant for the rock garden, the woodland edge or a trough, where its sombre colour and scent are valued precisely because they are not the bright blues and reds of the usual garden columbines. It is also used in planting schemes that rely on green flowers, which combine well with ferns and with dark-leaved heucheras.
The plant has no culinary use, and the whole of it is mildly toxic, as are all columbines: the seeds and roots contain cyanogenic glycosides and should not be eaten. In folk medicine it had a minor reputation as a diuretic, but it is not a herb to experiment with. It is grown for its flowers and for the bees and moths that visit them.
Growing from Seed
Sow on the surface of a fine, well-drained compost in late winter or early spring, and do not cover the seed, since it needs light. A period of cold improves germination, so either sow outdoors in autumn or give the sown pot four weeks in the refrigerator before bringing it into warmth.
Germination is slow and uneven, often over six to eight weeks. Prick the seedlings out when they are large enough to handle and grow them on in cool, bright conditions. Plant out in part shade in humus-rich but well-drained soil, and water through the first summer. The plants usually flower in their second year, and they are best replaced every three or four years, since they weaken with age.
Our Take
The quietest columbine: chocolate and green, short-spurred and scented. Grow it at the woodland edge, and do not expect it to last for ever.
Related Reading
Gardeners who grow Chocolate Columbine often pair it with these related subjects: