Aquilegia barbaricina (also called Barbaricina Colombine) is a species of plant

Plant

Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...

 in the Ranunculaceae

Ranunculaceae

Ranunculaceae are a family of about 1700 species of flowering plants in about 60 genera, distributed worldwide....

 family. It is endemic to Italy, occuring only on the island of Sardinia

Sardinia

Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...

.

It is not entirely to some taxonomists whether this is a distinct species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 or a subspecies

Subspecies

Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...

 of some other Sardinian or other Mediterranean island columbine

Columbine

-Places and events:*Columbine, Colorado, an unincorporated census-designated place in Jefferson County, Colorado, near the cities of Denver and Littleton*Columbine , also known as Columbine Gold Camp, listed on the NRHP in Colorado...

.

Distribution

Aquilegia barbaricina grows in alder

Alder

Alder is the common name of a genus of flowering plants belonging to the birch family . The genus comprises about 30 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, few reaching large size, distributed throughout the North Temperate Zone and in the Americas along the Andes southwards to...

 scrub along water courses at 1300–1400 m (4,265.1–4,593.2 ft) in altitude. Its natural habitat

Habitat

* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...

s are Mediterranean shrubby vegetation

Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub

Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome, defined by the World Wildlife Fund, characterized by dry summers and rainy winters. Summers are typically hot in low-lying inland locations but can be cool near some seas, as near San Francisco, which have a sea of cool waters...

 and shrub-dominated wetland

Wetland

A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....

s.

Endangered
It is almost extinct due to habitat loss and unsustainable collecting. It is an IUCN Red List Critically Endangered plant species

IUCN Red List Critically Endangered species (Plantae)

On 29 January 2010, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species identified 1701 critically endangered species, subspecies and varieties, stocks and subpopulations in the Plantae...

and IUCN Top 50 Campaign Mediterranean Island Plant.

Source

• Camarda, I. 2006. Aquilegia barbaricina. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 20 August 2007.

External links

• http://data.iucn.org/themes/ssc/our_work/plants/Top50/English/Aquilegia_barbaricina_EN.htm IUCN Red List: Viola ucriana]
• IUCN - Top 50 Mediterranean Island Plants: Viola ucriana (Barbaricina Colombine)