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US state symbols

Each state’s official bird, flower, tree and motto, as its own laws name them, with when each was adopted.

Test yourself: US state symbols quiz

Midwest 12 symbols

West 8 symbols

New England 6 symbols

Mid-Atlantic 3 symbols

South 16 symbols

Pacific 5 symbols

About uS state symbols

Every state names its own official bird, flower and tree, and nearly every state has a motto. Each page here gives one state’s, in the words of its own statute where there is one, with the year each was adopted, checked against the state’s own symbols page, library or historical society.

Where state symbols came from

The South Carolina Encyclopedia dates the custom of naming state flowers, trees and birds to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A few flowers were chosen for their place in a state’s farming or trade, such as Florida’s orange blossom (1909) and Michigan’s apple blossom (1897); most were chosen for their beauty and as characteristic of the state. Kentucky named the first state bird, the cardinal, in 1926, and most states chose theirs between the 1920s and the 1940s. Texas was the first to adopt a state tree, the pecan, in 1919. After the Second World War legislatures began naming many more: fossils, insects, rocks, grasses, dogs, and in New York’s case a muffin.

How a state adopts one

Usually the legislature passes a law, and the law is printed in the state’s code with the year beside it, as in North Carolina’s General Statutes. Some states use other routes. West Virginia adopted its bird, flower and tree by resolution. Oregon’s bird was chosen by schoolchildren in a 1927 election and proclaimed by the governor; the Legislature named it the state songbird only in 2017. Many mottoes are older than any symbol law because they came with the state seal, as South Carolina’s two did in 1777 and Virginia’s did in 1776, and New Jersey has not formally adopted the motto on its seal at all.

The commonest state birds

Audubon counts the northern cardinal as the official bird of no fewer than seven eastern states, among them Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia. The western meadowlark is the bird of Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon and Wyoming, and the mockingbird of Tennessee and Texas.

How to read a page

Each page opens with the bird, flower, tree and motto and the year each was adopted. The year is the first adoption. Where a code shows only the year the symbols were collected into it, as the Texas Government Code does (2001), the page takes the earlier year from the state’s library or historical society and says so. The names are the law’s own, even when they are odd: Ohio’s code misspells the buckeye’s Latin name, and Utah’s calls the California gull “the sea gull”. Where two sources give different years, or a symbol was replaced, the page says who gives which. States with more than one of a kind, such as Nevada’s two trees or Tennessee’s three flowers, list them all.

Sources

  1. State Symbols (South Carolina Encyclopedia), South Carolina Encyclopedia, "State Symbols", University of South Carolina Institute for Southern Studies (South Carolina Encyclopedia), Entry text
  2. North Carolina General Statutes Chapter 145 (State Symbols and Other Official Adoptions), N.C. Gen. Stat. §§ 145-1, 145-2, 145-3, 145-20, 145-25, North Carolina General Assembly, § 145-1 State flower; § 145-2 State bird; § 145-3 State tree; § 145-20 State wildflower; § 145-25 State Christmas tree
  3. West Virginia State Symbols (Legislature Kids Page), West Virginia Legislature, Kids Page, "State Symbols", West Virginia Legislature, State Bird; State Tree; State Flower; State Motto; State Animal
  4. Oregon Blue Book: Oregon Almanac, Abbreviation to Crustacean, Oregon Blue Book, Oregon Almanac (A–C), Oregon Secretary of State, Animal, State; Birds (Western Meadowlark)
  5. State Mottoes (South Carolina Encyclopedia), South Carolina Encyclopedia, "State Mottoes", University of South Carolina Institute for Southern Studies (South Carolina Encyclopedia), State Mottoes
  6. Report of the Secretary of the Commonwealth 2008-2009, Report of the Secretary of the Commonwealth to the Governor and General Assembly of Virginia, 2008-2009, "History of the Great Seal of the Commonwealth", Secretary of the Commonwealth of Virginia, History of the Great Seal; Facts on Virginia
  7. NJ Facts FAQ (State of New Jersey, NJ.gov), State of New Jersey, NJ.gov, FAQs: "Facts", State of New Jersey (NJ.gov), What is the NJ state motto?; nickname
  8. Northern Cardinal (Audubon Guide to North American Birds), National Audubon Society, Guide to North American Birds, “Northern Cardinal”, National Audubon Society, Species description
  9. Ohio Revised Code Chapter 5 (State Emblems), Ohio Rev. Code §§ 5.02, 5.021, 5.03, 5.05, 5.06, Ohio Legislative Service Commission, § 5.02 State flower; § 5.021 State wild flower; § 5.03 State bird; § 5.05 State tree; § 5.06 State motto
  10. Code of Virginia § 1-510. Official emblems and designations, Va. Code Ann. § 1-510, Virginia General Assembly, Division of Legislative Automated Systems (Virginia Law / LIS), § 1-510, entries Bird, Flower, Tree; history note
  11. Nebraska Revised Statutes § 90-107, Neb. Rev. Stat. § 90-107, Nebraska Legislature, § 90-107, State bird; western meadowlark; Source note
  12. North Dakota Century Code Chapter 54-02 (State Emblems, Symbols, and Awards), N.D. Cent. Code §§ 54-02-03, 54-02-04, 54-02-05, 54-02-06, 54-02-18, North Dakota Legislative Branch, § 54-02-03 State flower; § 54-02-04 State song; § 54-02-05 State tree; § 54-02-06 State bird; § 54-02-18 State Latin motto
  13. Wyoming Statutes Title 8, ch. 3, §§ 8-3-101 to 8-3-109, Wyo. Stat. Ann. §§ 8-3-101, 8-3-104 to 8-3-109, Wyoming Legislature (Legislative Service Office), Title 8, Chapter 3
  14. Tennessee State Symbols (Tennessee Encyclopedia), Rob Simbeck, "Tennessee State Symbols," Tennessee Encyclopedia, Tennessee Historical Society (Tennessee Encyclopedia), Tennessee State Symbols (seal; flowers; bird; tree)
  15. Texas Government Code Chapter 3101 (State Symbols), §§ 3101.004, 3101.007–3101.009, Tex. Gov't Code §§ 3101.004, 3101.007, 3101.008, 3101.009, Texas Legislature (Texas Legislative Council), Sec. 3101.004 State motto; Sec. 3101.007 State bird; Sec. 3101.008 State flower; Sec. 3101.009 State tree
  16. Texas State Symbols (Texas State Library and Archives Commission), Texas State Library and Archives Commission, "Texas State Symbols," List of Symbols with Resolution Citations, Texas State Library and Archives Commission, List of Symbols with Resolution Citations: Bird; Flower; Motto; Nickname; Song; Tree
  17. Utah Code § 63G-1-601 (State symbols), Utah Code Ann. § 63G-1-601 (effective 5/7/2025), Utah State Legislature, § 63G-1-601 (2), (11), (15), (25), (32); history note
  18. Nevada Revised Statutes § 235.040, NRS 235.040, Nevada Legislature (Legislative Counsel Bureau), NRS 235.040, State trees; history note

Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 9, 2026. How we research