Its beautiful drooping, bell-shaped flowers have yellow and red petals with upward directed spurs. Clusters of yellow stamens hang below.
The spurs are rich in nectar and attract bumblebees and hummingbirds. Halictid bees (Sweat Bees) collect pollen from the flowers.
Columbine flower in late spring and produce seeds in the mid fall. They are of little importance to herbivores as its foliage is either unpalatable or toxic.
The plant is tolerant of fire -- dying back to a caudex (a basal stem structure from which new growth arises).
While beautiful, its flowers have no scent.
