Texas state symbols
Texas’s state bird is the mockingbird (1927), its flower the bluebonnet (1901), its tree the pecan (1919), and its motto “Friendship” (1930).
How to read it
Chapter 3101 of the Texas Government Code names each in one line: “The state motto is ‘Friendship’”, “The state bird is the mockingbird”, “The state flower is the bluebonnet” and “The state tree is the pecan tree”. Those sections date only from 2001, when the symbols were collected into the code; the Texas State Library and Archives Commission gives the resolution or act that first adopted each. The mockingbird was adopted by Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 8 in 1927, the pecan by Senate Bill No. 317 in 1919, and “Friendship” by House Concurrent Resolution No. 22 in 1930. The Texas State Historical Association’s Handbook of Texas gives the same years for the bird, the tree and the motto. The nickname “The Lone Star State” was made official in 2015, by House Concurrent Resolution No. 78, and the state song is “Texas, Our Texas”, adopted in 1929.
Also searched as: official symbols of texas, texas state bird, texas state flower, texas state motto, texas state symbols, texas state tree.
Which bluebonnet
The Commission says Texas’s state symbols begin in 1901, when the 27th Legislature chose the bluebonnet as the state flower. The Handbook of Texas dates that law to March 7, 1901, and says it named one species, Lupinus subcarnosus. The Commission’s list cites the later resolution, House Concurrent Resolution No. 44 of 1971, that names the flower as “Bluebonnet, Lupinus Texensis and any other variety of Bluebonnet”, so any bluebonnet counts.
States with the same bird
Tennessee also names the mockingbird as its state bird.
Read next
- Next in US state symbolsUtah state symbolsUtah’s state bird is the California gull (1955), its flower the sego lily (1911), its tree the quaking aspen (2014), and its motto “Industry” (1959).
- The same shape in Resistor color codesBlue band on a resistorOn a resistor, a blue band is the digit 6, the multiplier ×1,000,000, or, as the tolerance band at the end, ±0.25%.
More US state symbols
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols drawn with lines.
Sources
- 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
- 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
- State Motto (Handbook of Texas), Handbook of Texas Online, "State Motto", Texas State Historical Association, State Motto
- State Tree (Handbook of Texas), Handbook of Texas Online, "State Tree", Texas State Historical Association, State Tree
- Northern Mockingbird (Handbook of Texas), Handbook of Texas Online, "Northern Mockingbird", Texas State Historical Association, Northern Mockingbird
- Bluebonnet (Handbook of Texas), Jean Andrews, "Bluebonnet," Handbook of Texas Online, Texas State Historical Association, Bluebonnet
- Texas, Our Texas (Handbook of Texas), Handbook of Texas Online, "Texas, Our Texas", Texas State Historical Association, Texas, Our Texas
- Texas H.C.R. No. 78 (84th Legislature, 2015), enrolled, H.C.R. No. 78, 84th Leg., R.S. (Tex. 2015), Texas Legislature, Resolved clause; certification
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 10, 2026. How we research
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