National Park ServiceThe Wyoming chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution supported the Indian paintbrush as Wyoming’s state flower. But Dr. Grace R. Hebard gets most of the credit for its adoption. She drafted the state flower bill and found a legislator willing to sponsor it.
Hebard even commissioned a New York artist to paint the Indian paintbrush so that legislators would know what it looks like. The Indian paintbrush was adopted on January 31, 1917, and Hebard presented the painting to the state.
But was the Indian paintbrush the best choice? Dr. Aven Nelson disagreed long before the paintbrush was adopted.
The University of Wyoming botanist wanted a state flower that was common and could be grown in flower gardens. He said either the gentian or the columbine should be adopted.
Near the turn of the century, Wyoming school children were polled. They concurred with Dr. Nelson, and the fringed gentian became Wyoming’s unofficial state flower.
A Questionable Blossom
Dr. Nelson objected to the paintbrush in the Wyoming School Journal in 1917. Although Indian paintbrushes are common in parts of Wyoming, they are not found throughout Wyoming. Dr. Nelson said there are many kinds of paintbrushes, and only an expert can tell them apart. Dr. Nelson himself had made the first collection of the state flower in the Laramie Hills on July 7, 1894.
Dr. Nelson also noted that Indian paintbrush is a partial parasite on roots of other plants. Who would want to plant a parasite in a garden? Besides, the Indian paintbrush was not a sentimental favorite.
In 1943, the Indian paintbrush was challenged by Warren J. Allred, range examiner with the Wyoming State Game and fish Commission. He claimed that Wyoming’s state flower isn’t even an Indian paintbrush! He said it’s more properly known as “painted cup.” The only true paintbrush, Allred claimed, grows in the eastern United States, not Wyoming.
But Wyoming’s state flower remains the Indian paintbrush. Having reigned for nearly a century, it has become a part of Wyoming tradition.
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