Alabama Camellia The camellia is called the rose of winter for its showy likeness to the rose It grows on a shrub in many colors and shapes The goldenrod was the state fl ower from 1927 to 1959 But women from Butler County said a weed should not be the state fl ower so they pushed the legislature to adopt camellias Since the camellia wasn’t a native plant they added the oak-leaf hydrangea as the state’s wildfl ower Scientifi c Name Camellia japonica Year Made State Flower 1959 4
Alaska Forget-me-not Alaska has long loved the wild native true blue alpine forget-me-not It is a symbol of the wild as it grows in rocky mountainous places It was adopted as the Alaska Territory fl oral emblem in 1917 The forget-me-not was important to Benny Benson an Aleut boy who won a contest for designing the Alaskan fl ag in 1927 He said that the blue background of the fl ag represented the sky and the forget-me not It was offi cially adopted as the state fl ower of Alaska in 1959 when it became part of the United States Scientifi c Name Myosotis alpestris Year Made State Flower 1959 5
Arizona Saguaro giant cactus blossom A saguaro is huge up to fi fty feet 15 24 meters high with many arm-like limbs that end in white blossoms The fl owers bloom at night growing in the desert and mountain slopes A saguaro pronounced sah-wah-roh can live up to 200 years It can take up to seventy-fi ve years to develop a side shoot and is slow to reproduce This makes the giant saguaro cactus a candidate for the endangered species list Scientifi c Name Carnegia gigantea Year Made State Flower 1901 6
Arkansas Apple blossom Apple blossoms arrive each spring in light pink staying until the apples begin to form This lovely fragrant blossom fi lls orchards each year Love Barton a chief advocate of the apple blossom as the choice for state fl ower tirelessly promoted it At the time 400 varieties of apples were grown in Arkansas One of the high points of her lobbying was to take a bushel of apples to the Senate chamber in 1901 Scientifi c Name Malus domestica Year Made State Flower 1901 7
