Aquilegia aurea

Aquilegia aurea grows to 10–100 cm (4–39 in) with smooth or lightly hairy stems and large, nodding, light yellow or greenish-yellow flowers with a hooked nectar spur and protruding stamens. It forms a large underground mass to maintain stability among the loose rocks and scree of its environment.

Aquilegia aurea is native to mountainous regions of western and southwestern Bulgaria, in Vitosha, Rila, Pirin and the western Rhodope Mountains, as well as the Belasica mountains (also known as Kerkini in Greece) in southeastern North Macedonia and northeastern Greece. It grows in rocky alpine meadows at altitudes of 1,800–2,300 m (5,900–7,500 ft).

Aquilegia aurea blooms in June and July. It is one of the diagnostic species for the high-altitude Aquilegio aureae-Doronicetum columnae plant community that occurs in almost all of the main Bulgarian mountain ranges. The leaf miner Phytomyza minuscula is known to attack the leaves, along with the fungus Erysiphe aquilegiae var. aquilegiae, which causes powdery mildew, and the smut fungus Urocystis aquilegiae, which creates pustules on the leaves.

The specific epithet aurea means "golden" in Latin, referring to the colour of the flowers.