Aquilegia coerulea, the Colorado blue columbine, is a species of flowering plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae, native to the Rocky Mountains, USA. Aquilegia coerulea is the state flower of Colorado. The Latin specific name coerulea (or caerulea) means "sky blue".
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Compounds documented for Aquilegia coerulea across natural-product and food-composition databases — not just the ~150 nutrients on a classic label ("nutritional dark matter").
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Aquilegia coerulea has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens2
Marker genes1
eDNA detections2
Marker genes sequenced
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
★matK
plant barcode
06Genome at a glanceGoaT
The complete instruction manualAquilegia coerulea carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Genome size≈301 979 693 bp assembly estimate
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
BACTERIUM Carsonella ruddii0.00016 Gb
FUNGUS0.04 Gb
INSECT0.25 Gb
THIS GENOME Aquilegia coerulea0.30 Gb
HUMAN3.2 Gb
WHEAT17 Gb
FERN Tmesipteris160.45 Gb
Sequencing statusassembly quality — how far to trust these numbers
Assembly level tells you how finished the sequence is — from fragmented contigs, through scaffolds, up to a full chromosome-level assembly. BUSCO % estimates completeness: the share of genes expected to be present that were actually found. These describe the data quality, not the organism.
Assembly levelScaffold
Completeness97.5% BUSCO
07Deep time~0.54 Ma lineage
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
DNA clock origin0.54 Ma TimeTree
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
DNA clock origin
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type6 539 records
Wild obs. + sensor5 946
Museum / vouchered592
Cultivated / captive1
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO11 548 km²
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy87% within 1 km
≤100 m 3 440≤1 km 696≤10 km 412>10 km 228
4 776 georeferenced · 1 170 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor5 946
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Coordinate accuracy52% within 1 km
≤100 m 25≤1 km 141≤10 km 140>10 km 13
319 georeferenced · 273 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence592
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Coordinate accuracy100% within 1 km
≤1 km 1
1 georeferenced
Open the mapnot free-living1
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
10Collections & institutions
Holding institutions46 of 63 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
DOI/NPS, Colonial National Historical Parklocation not on record
144
Musee des Dinosaures d'Esperaza (Aude)location not on record
100
Denver, US
57
Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratorylocation not on record
24
Durango, US
23
Provo, US
21
Pocatello, US
21
Claremont, US
16
Bronx, US
15
DOI/NPS, Greenbelt Parklocation not on record
11
Wuzhou, CN
10
Pullman, US
9
Emporia, US
8
Riverside, US
8
Phoenix, US
7
University of Alberta Museumslocation not on record
6
Flagstaff, US
6
Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznańlocation not on record
6
Orem, US
6
Boise, US
6
Moscow, US
6
University of Stellenboschlocation not on record
5
Logan, US
5
Missoula, US
4
San Luis Obispo, US
4
Tampere, FI
3
Albuquerque, US
3
San Angelo, US
3
Bozeman, US
3
Saint Louis, US
3
US
2
Brookings, US
2
Santa Barbara, US
2
Bloomington, US
2
Chapel Hill, US
2
Henderson, US
2
Fargo, US
2
Weber State Universitylocation not on record
2
Lubbock, US
1
Chadron, US
1
Canadian Department of Agriculturelocation not on record
1
Universidad del Pais Vasco (UPV/EHU)location not on record
1
Istituto Agrario Castelnuovolocation not on record
1
Auckland, NZ
1
Cslocation not on record
1
Millersville, US
1
CASlocation not on record
1
Dekalb, US
1
Portland, US
1
Northridge, US
1
GB
1
LDlocation not on record
1
Corvallis, US
1
Williamsburg, US
1
Barcelona, ES
1
Grand Junction, US
1
ASUlocation not on record
1
Columbia, US
1
PRClocation not on record
1
Tempe, US
1
Karlsruhe, DE
1
EL PASO, US
1
DOI/NPS, Little Rock Central High School National Historic Sitelocation not on record
1
63 institutions · 584 of 592 vouchered records shown · 8 without an institution code
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
09Environmental DNA2 detections
Where the DNA of Aquilegia coerulea was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Detections DNA found2
Studies independent surveys1
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 2 detections have coordinates
Open the map0 countries0
How strong is each trace?
DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation7 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility6 539 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI2 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics2 specimens↗
LOTUSNatural Products (Wikidata)compounds↗
GRIN TaxonomyUSDA-ARSdistribution & uses↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗