Aquilegia montsicciana

Aquilegia montsicciana is a perennial herbaceous plant growing to 15–35 cm (6–14 in) in height with sticky stems which can be simple or branched. The leaves are ternate and deeply divided into unequal rounded lobes, light green in colour and hairy. The flowers are pale blue or white with pointed egg-shaped or lancehead-shaped sepals measuring 22 mm (0.9 in) long by 7 mm wide. The petals have nectar spurs which range from curved to tightly hooked and measure 16 mm (0.6 in) long, and rounded or square blades which measure 7–12.5 mm long by 6.5–8 mm wide. The stamens are smooth and shorter than the petals, and the anthers are yellow. The staminodes are pointed, and there are 3–5 follicles which are hairy and measure 14–19 mm (0.6–0.7 in) long. The styles are 8 mm in length.

Aquilegia montsicciana is endemic to the south-central and eastern Pyrenees, in northeastern Spain. It grows in rocky limestone habitats such as scree and ravines at altitudes from 900 m (3,000 ft) to 1,950 m (6,400 ft).

The type specimen was collected by the Catalan botanist Pius Font i Quer on 27 June 1916 in a limestone ravine called Barranc de la Pardina in the Montsec d'Ares mountains in the Province of Lleida, Catalonia, at an altitude of 1,200 m (3,900 ft). Font i Quer formally described the species in 1920. Although it has since been reassessed as a variety montsicciana of Aquilegia hirsutissima (Joan Pujadas i Ferrer, 1981) and a subspecies montsicciana of Aquilegia viscosa (Oriol de Bolòs and Josep Vigo Bonada, 1984; accepted by Flora Europaea), it is currently accepted as a distinct species by Plants of the World Online.