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Know Your State Flowers
by Wendy Aiton
http://www.flowerwa.com

Every state in the United States has an official state
flower, usually chosen by an act of the legislature. Many
have tales behind their choosing that read like a fine
suspense thriller.

Some states chose flowers that are the only natural choice.
What flower could better represent Massachusetts, home of
the Pilgrims, than the mayflower? And yet, the
Massachusetts state legistlature, meeting in 1918, were
hesitant. The bill to name the mayflower as the state
flower was followed quickly by another to recognize the
water lily instead. Other bills followed, and in the end,
the legislature handed the decision to the state Deparment
of Agriculture, who handed it to the Department of
Education, who passed it on to the schoolchildren of the
Commonwealth. The children voted two-to-one to adopt the
mayflower, and it was named officially on May 1, 1918.

2. Many states have chosen flowers that are native to their
state, but only two state flowers bear the state name.
Which state are the only two whose flowers bears its name?

The shy violet, for all its unassuming ways, is a popular
favorite. Four states - Illinois, New Jersey, Rhode Island
and Wisconsin - have chosen the woodland flower to
represent their state. Interestingly, in three of those
states it was schoolchildren who made the final choice.

Schoolchildren were responsible for the designation of
close to half the state flowers in the United States. Among
those states are Massachusetts, whose state flower was
chosen by the vote of schoolchildren in the state after the
state legislature passed the choice off to the state Board
of Education. Their choice? The mayflower, named by the
pilgrims, the first settlers of the Massachusetts Bay
Colony.

5. Another reason that some states chose a particular bloom
has to do with history. Which state has a flower that
shares its name with a famous ship that figured in its
history?

Of the other states that have changed their official flower
the record holder has got to be Indiana. The legislators of
the Hoosier state chose no less than four different flowers
to represent their state. Originally, the carnation was the
state flower of Indiana. In 1931, the state legislature
chose to recognize the zinnia instead. That lasted nearly
a quarter of a century. In 1957, the legislators changed
the state flower twice - first to the dogwood blossom, and
finally, to the flowers that represent the state to this
day - the peony.

Other states have chosen flowers that symbolize an
important state crop. Delaware, for instance, chose the
peach blossom as its official flower during a time that the
state was a major exporter of fresh peaches. Florida is
represented by - what else - the orange blossom. Along the
same lines, Oregon chose the blossom of the Oregon grape,
a major export product, as its state flower.

Other interesting state flower facts include: two states
are represented by plants that aren't technically flowers,
Maine, with the White Pine Tassel, and Oklahoma's
mistletoe. Two states are represented by cacti - Arizona's
Saguaro cactus and New Mexico's yucca flower. Only one
state's flower bears the state name - the California poppy.

1. The violet, shy and unassuming, is the state flower of
four different states: Wisconsin, New Jersey, Rhode Island
and Illinois.
2. The California Poppy is California's state flower, and
Oregon is represented by the Oregon grape.
3. Indiana changed its mind about its state flower four
separate times. Its choices were the carnation, the zinnia,
the dogwood blossom and the peony.
4. The list of state flowers that are fruit blossoms
include: apple blossom (Arkansas and Michigan), orange
blossom (Florida), Oregon grape (Oregon), and peach blossom
(Delaware).
5. The state flower of Massachusetts is the mayflower,
remniscent of the ship that carried the Pilgrims across the
Atlantic.
6. Oklahoma's state flower is the mistletoe.
7. Arizona's state flower is the Saguaro cactus, and New
Mexico's flower is the yucca flower.
8. Until the 1980s, Hawaii's state flower was the hibiscus,
and was often depicted as the red hibiscus. At that point,
Hawaii's legislature specified that the yellow hibiscus,
native to Hawaii, was the state flower of Hawaii.

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