Stems 30-120 cm. Basal leaves 2-3×-ternately compound, 9-45 cm, much shorter than stems; leaflets green adaxially, to 11-55 mm, not viscid; primary petiolules 20-50 mm (leaflets not crowded), glabrous or distally pilose. Flowers erect; sepals perpendicular to floral axis, yellow, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 20-36 × 5-10 mm, apex narrowly acute or acuminate; petals: spurs yellow, straight, ± parallel or divergent, 42-65 mm, slender, evenly tapered from base, blades yellow, oblong, 13-23 × 6-15 mm; stamens 12-25 mm. Follicles 18-30 mm; beak 10-18 mm. Flowering spring-summer (Apr-Sep). Damp places in canyons; 1000-3500 m; Ariz., Colo., N.Mex., Tex., Utah; nw Mexico. Colorado populations supposedly having spurs only 35-40 mm have been called Aquilegia chrysantha var. rydbergii . Material seen from this area falls within the normal range of variation of the species. Populations intermediate between A . chrysantha and A . coerulea var. pinetorum occur in northern Arizona (M. Butterwick et al. 1991).