Arizona state symbols

How to read it

The bird, flower and tree are each named in a section of the Arizona Revised Statutes. The cactus wren became the state bird in 1931, according to Arizona State Parks, and the white, waxy blossom of the saguaro, the giant cactus, became the state flower the same year. The palo verde followed in 1954 (Laws 1954, chapter 125). The motto is written into the state constitution’s description of the state seal, which carries the year Arizona joined the Union, 1912. The Governor’s office translates “Ditat Deus” from Latin as “God Enriches”. The Arizona State Library gives the state’s nickname as the Grand Canyon State.

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Arizona’s symbols and when each was adopted

Which palo verde

The law names the palo verde by its genus, “genera cercidium”, and not by species. Arizona State Parks says the legislature did not distinguish between the two common kinds in 1954: the foothill palo verde (Parkinsonia microphylla), which is more common, and the blue palo verde (Parkinsonia florida). The governor’s office notes that “palo verde” is Spanish for “green stick”.

Old and new names for the cactus wren

The statute still uses the bird’s older name, “Coues’ cactus wren or heleodytes brunneicapillus couesi”. The Arizona State Library gives it as Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus, a brown bird with a speckled chest.