Montana state symbols

How to read it

The Montana Code names the bitterroot (Lewisia rediviva) as the floral emblem, a law that goes back to the Political Code of 1895, and the western meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta) as the state bird, chosen in a referendum of schoolchildren and enacted in 1931. The motto is part of the great seal, described in a law of 1893: a plow and a miner’s pick and shovel, the Great Falls of the Missouri River and mountain scenery, with “Oro y Plata” underneath. The Montana Historical Society reads the pick, the plow and the motto as a reference to the state’s mineral wealth. The legislature named the ponderosa pine the state tree in 1949.

Also searched as: montana state bird, montana state flower, montana state motto, montana state symbols, montana state tree.

Montana’s symbols and when each was adopted

Why the bitterroot

The bitterroot grows only in western Montana. The Montana Historical Society explains the choice by where people lived in 1895: in 1890 Missoula County had 14,427 people and Yellowstone County, home today of the state’s largest city, had 2,065. Mary Alderson, president of the state’s Women’s Christian Temperance Union, began the campaign for a state flower in 1894. The plant has special significance for the Salish and Pend d’Oreille tribes, who relied on it for sustenance.

Six states share the meadowlark

The western meadowlark is the state bird of six states: Montana, Kansas state symbols, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon and Wyoming. Montana schoolchildren chose it in 1930, and the legislature named it the next year.