South Carolina state symbols

How to read it

The Code of Laws names the bird and the tree: “The Carolina Wren is the official bird of the State” (§ 1-1-630) and “The palmetto tree is hereby designated and adopted as the official tree of the State” (§ 1-1-660). The yellow jessamine, Gelsemium sempervirens, is not in the Code; the Legislative Manual says the General Assembly adopted it on February 1, 1924. The palmetto, commonly called the cabbage palmetto (Sabal palmetto), was adopted on March 17, 1939. The two mottoes are on the great seal, first used on May 22, 1777: “Animis opibusque parati”, “Prepared in mind and resources”, and “Dum spiro spero”, “While I breathe I hope”. The state’s nickname is the Palmetto State.

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The mockingbird years

The Carolina wren was not the first official bird. The Legislative Manual says the wren had been recognised unofficially before 1939, when Act No. 311 made the mockingbird the state bird; Act No. 693 of 1948 repealed that act and named the Carolina wren. The mockingbird it replaced is the state bird of Tennessee and Texas. The South Carolina Encyclopedia gives the date Governor Strom Thurmond signed it, April 3, 1948.

Two mottoes on one seal

The South Carolina Encyclopedia says both mottoes were engraved on the original great seal in 1777, “Animis opibusque parati” on the front and “Dum spiro spero” on the back. SC.gov, the state’s website, lists only “Dum spiro spero” as the motto.