Plural of columbine; ornamental flowering plants with distinctive spurred petals that come in various colors and are popular in gardens.
From Latin 'columbina' (dove-like), derived from 'columba' (dove). Medieval naturalists named the flower for its supposed resemblance to clustered doves. The plural simply adds the English '-s' suffix to the singular form.
Columbines are one of the few flowers with a scientific origin story based on poetic imagination—the spurs really do look like doves to some people, and this medieval fancy became officially encoded in the plant's scientific Latin name.
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