Stems and petioles glabrous or sparsely pilose, not viscid. Flowers: sepals 10-20 mm, 0.7-1.1 times as long as spurs; petal blades 0-3 mm. 2 n = 14.

Flowering spring-summer (Apr-Aug). Mesic woods or shrublands; 0-3500 m; Calif., Nev., Oreg.

Aquilegia formosa var. truncata replaces A . formosa var. formosa from the Sierra Nevada westward. The two varieties intergrade where they come together.

The common form of Aquilegia formosa var. truncata is 50-100 cm, with well-developed stem leaves. Montane forms with short stems and very small stem leaves are often separated as A . formosa var. pauciflora . Similar dwarf montane races with the floral characters of A . formosa var. formosa occur in the Pacific Northwest; these have never been separated taxonomically.