A delicate flowering plant with distinctive spurred petals, often found in gardens and wild meadows.
From Medieval Latin 'columba' (dove), because the spurred petals were thought to resemble a group of doves. The flower name first appeared in English in the 1500s.
The flower's dove-shape was so obvious to medieval people that cultures across Europe independently decided doves were the best description—but interestingly, the Victorians later started using columbine symbolically to mean 'betrayal' in flower language!
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