aquilegia
/ˌakwɪˈliːdʒə
/noun
A plant of the buttercup family, which bears showy flowers with backward-pointing spurs. Native to temperate regions of the northern hemisphere, it is widely grown in gardens.
- Genus Aquilegia, family Ranunculaceae. See also columbine.
- During her long life she gardened in Buckinghamshire and studied genetics at Cambridge before trying her hand at hybridising various flowers, including aquilegias.
- However it has helped me decide how to replant the somewhat shady, sheltered bed on one side of my garden: lots of hellebores, aquilegia, ferns, and variegated ivy creeping up the wall of my neighbour's extension wall.
Origin
From medieval Latin, probably from Latin aquilegus 'water-collecting'.