Minnesota state symbols

How to read it

Chapter 1 of the Minnesota Statutes names the loon (Gavia immer), the pink and white lady slipper (Cypripedium reginae) and the red pine (Pinus resinosa), “more commonly known as Norway pine”. The Legislative Reference Library dates the red pine to 1953 and the loon to 1961. Before the loon, the Eastern goldfinch (1947), the mourning dove, the pileated woodpecker, the scarlet tanager and the wood duck had all been suggested. The lady slipper is older than its statute: the Senate passed a resolution naming it on 18 February 1902 and the House concurred, though the law that now names it dates from 1967. The motto was adopted in 1861, when the Legislature approved the state seal and the motto Henry Sibley had chosen for it at the same time.

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Minnesota’s symbols and when each was adopted

The first lady slipper was the wrong one

In 1893 the Senate adopted a resolution naming the wild lady slipper (recorded as Cyprideum calceolous), but the Legislative Reference Library finds no evidence that the House adopted it, and that variety was not from Minnesota. The 1902 resolution put the pink and white lady slipper, also called the showy lady slipper, in its place.

The motto on the 2024 seal

Minnesota’s new great seal became official on 11 May 2024. The House of Representatives explains that on it a white, four-pointed star stands for the Star of the North, “L’étoile du Nord”, the state motto. Its description of the new seal also gives “Mni Sóta Makoce”, Dakota for “Land of the sky tinted water” or “Land where the waters reflect the skies”.