Every state has an official flower. But Texas’ bluebonnet is more than a state flower; it’s an institution. Historian Jack Maguire wrote, “It’s not only the state flower but also a kind of floral trademark almost as well known to outsiders as cowboy boots and the Stetson hat.” Maguire says the “bluebonnet is to Texas what the shamrock is to Ireland, the cherry blossom to Japan, the lily to France, the rose to England and the tulip to Holland.” Another writer stated it more succinctly: Bluebonnets are a “Texas thang.”
The Texas Senate passed a state flower resolution with little debate in 1900. In March 1901, the House took up the flower question.
Phil Clement of Mills championed the open cotton boll, which he called “the white rose of commerce.” John Nance Garner was stuck on the flower of the prickly pear cactus. Nearly a century later, both cotton and the prickly pear would become official Texas state symbols. But another plant would capture the coveted state flower title.
John M. Green of Cuero submitted the bluebonnet. “What’s a bluebonnet?” people asked. Was it the blue flower that resembled the sunbonnets pioneer women wore? The Mexicans called it el conejo, “the rabbit.” The white tips waving to and fro in the wind reminded them of bobbing rabbit tails. Or was Green referring to the flower Old World botanists called a “wolf flower”?
A group of women then rose. They represented an organization called the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of Texas. The Colonial Dames had first suggested adopting the bluebonnet.
The women sent for a bluebonnet painting by Miss Mode Walker of Austin. When legislators saw the painting, they reportedly “shook the old walls” with their applause.
Governor Joseph D. Sayers approved Texas’ new state flower on March 7, 1901. The resolution refers to it as “the Lupinus subcarnosus (generally known as the buffalo clover or blue bonnet).”
A More Refined State Flower
Texas’ state flower later received some criticism. The legislators that voted for it didn’t realize that six species of bluebonnets grow in Texas. Furthermore, the one they adopted is not the most common. Some Texans also considered its faint blue blossoms the least attractive.
In west Texas, the tall Big Bend bluebonnet grows up to three feet high. But the bluebonnet known as Lupinus texensis emerged as a favorite. It’s bigger, bolder, and blankets most of Central Texas with its deep blue blossoms.
On March 8, 1971, a new state flower resolution was enacted. It recognizes not only Lupinus texensis, but “any other variety of Bluebonnet not heretofore recorded.” Until more bluebonnet species are discovered or introduced from elsewhere, Texas thus has six state flowers. (Coincidentally, Texas has also had six flags.)
More Texas Thangs
Not content to enshrine this member of the legume family as a state symbol, Texans adopted an official bluebonnet city (Ennis) and trail (Ennis). The Chappell Hill Bluebonnet Festival is Texas’ official bluebonnet festival. Texas has an official flower song—“Bluebonnets.”
Texas is one of several states with an official tartan, a plaid cloth originating in Scotland. Texas’ official tartan is the “Texas Bluebonnet.”
Each year for the past forty-seven years, the North Texas town of Ennis has hosted a Bluebonnet Trails Festival. An estimated 100,000 people now converge on Ennis’ forty miles of mapped trails in April.
Visit Texas in March through May to see the sky mirrored by blossoming bluebonnets. Be alert for bluebonnets with white blossoms mirroring clouds as well!
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