Perennial of the Ranunculaceae family, the elegant columbine is a discreet and little-known North American species, native to the southwestern United States, mainly Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona, where it inhabits rocky slopes, mountain stream banks, and forest clearings, generally between 2,000 and 3,500 meters in altitude. Its specific epithet, from the Latin elegantula , "little elegant", perfectly summarizes its character both graceful and modest.
Its habit is slender and airy, reaching 30 to 50 cm in height, with finely divided biternate foliage, of a characteristic glaucous green. The flowers, pendulous and modest in size, display a typical colorful combination associating bright orange-red sepals and golden yellow to orange-yellow petals, extended by relatively short curved red spurs. This warm bicolor, red and gold, brings it closer to Aquilegia canadensis and Aquilegia formosa , with which it shares an adaptation to pollination by hummingbirds, whose tubular morphology and bright colors constitute a privileged attraction signal.
Rarely cultivated outside specialized botanical collections, it represents a valuable subject for lovers of North American wild plants and naturalistic gardens, provided it is offered excellent drainage, a sunny to semi-shaded exposure, and conditions close to its natural mountain habitat.