Fast Facts    • Proclaimed Colorado's state flower in 1899   •
Botanical name: Aquilegia caerules   • Also known as Rocky
Mountain Columbine   • Columbine trivia: The Columbine's name
derives from the Latin for columba, meaning dove.   • Colorado
Flower Delivery  Let's hear it for the children of Colorado. If
it weren't for their input in 1891, state lawmakers might not
have chosen the lovely white and lavender columbine as the
Colorado state flowers over its nearest contender, a cactus.  In
a state known more widely for its snow than its aridity, a
mountain wildflower seems a more appropriate choice. State
lawmakers agreed, and in 1899, the Colorado General Assembly
decreed the white and lavender columbine the Colorado state
flower. (Interestingly, the columbine is also the subject of one
of the state's two official songs. However, many residents are
much more familiar with the other song, John Denver's "Rocky
Mountain High.")  Coloradans have good reason to be proud of
their state flower. The perennial's bl