The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-05-16
SOME STATE FLOWERS FLORAL EMBLEMS
Not All Have Yet Adopted The!r Favorite
 Bloom.

The action of the legislature of Con- necticut in adopting the mountain lau- rel as the state flower for the Land of Steady Habits calls attention to the extent 10 which the custom of select ing a state flower has spread. It is not very many years since the first ac- tiOn in this direction was taken, but the choice has been made by the action of public school children, voting in the matter, but in others the legislatures have acted on their own initiative.
 The most popular flower in the coun- try, according to state action, is the goldenrod, which is, perhaps, the most widely scattered of the native flowers .of the country, There are many spe- cies, all bearing graceful elongated clusters of yellow flowers on a tall stem, and they beautify many hun dreds of thousands of acres of land in all parts of the east, west, north and south. Efforts have been made to have it declared the national flower. The states which have chosen it for their distinctly floral emblem include Pennsylvania, Maryland, Alabama, Nebraska, Missouri and Kentucky. Doubtless some of the states which have not yet selected their emblematic flowers will follow the example of these six.
 The next most popular member of the floral kingdom is the rose, tot four states have selected it, albeit two have distiuctiyely differentiated the species by naming the wild rose. Those com mouweaths which have chosen the rose arc the two great states of New York and Illinois. in which all yarie- ties of the numerous rose family flour ish in profusion especially ils the month of roses, June. The wild rose states are Iowa and North Dakota, on whose prairics the tcndery blooming and clusiyely fragrant flower is na- tive and adds much to the charm of the landscape in many regions, Ef- forts to improve the wild rose by cuI- tiyation are not successful, and it is seldom used to strengthen the stocks of the hardy varieties of the cultivated flower, which it resembles in many particulars, but surpasses in some.
 The next most popular flower is the lone just selected by Connecticut, the mountain laurel which under its other Iname of rhododendron had previous 1 ly been selected by the widely separa- rated states of West Virginia and ! Washington. No more beautiful or ! fragrant blossom can be found in the wild woods whether in the hills of 1 Connecttcut-none of which can prop 1 erly be dienined as mountains-alon ! the Alcghanies, whether in the Mid l de or Western states, or in the foot Ihills Of the Sierra Nevada and Cas- | cade ranges, warmed by the Chinook hreozes from the Japanese current which moderates the climate of ths l Pacific northwest The flower in the 1 form of the cultivated rhododendron
 as well as its wild cousin, the noun Itain laurel. is to be found in all ouI parks, to which it adds much beauty The mountain laurel or Kalmia (sC Iuamed from Peter Kahn, q Swedish lhotanist) is the true laurel, or sweet 1 bay, which d0urishes on the shores of l the Mediterranean, and was used by
 the anc.ents for the crown bestowed l on victors in the Pythjan games but i it somewhat resembles it. The Ameri. can evergreen shrub is also known as Icalico gush, from the snowy white anC pink flowers; as lambkiH from its poisonous qualities if the leaves arr eaten by sheep and as the bayborry
 The word rhododendron means ro5t
 tree, and is named from it's appaaranct
 when in full bloom.
 Montana has chosen typica
 growth of her valleys, tho bitter root
 which does not take its name from tho
 part which appears above the ground
 but whose designation has been trans. ferred to the Bitter Root river. Ohio 1 has the popular scarlet carnaton, {
 member of the pink family the colol
 Of vivid bushes, which doubtless i, omblematic of the modesty of tho
 Buckeye state, although the horse l chestnut, or buckeye has a bloou
 which would fit the popular name oi ! N'ltlN ''lliI Itt'll " lAl -Hb IllIi F NlIFlA
 known flower can be found than tho apple blossom, which perfumes the ai1
 in May in every northern and scvera
 southern states, and is the choser flower of both Michigan and Arkansas
 which produce fruit of choice quality , from the abundance of blooms found in their orchards. Typcaly, the statt
 which has the greatest reputation as s
 peach grower has chosen the peaCl
 blossom as its flower Indiana
 with characteristic thriftiness, ha. designated its great grain product
 corn, as the state flower, albeit thu ! flowers of maize are not regarded as i especial ornaments of the floral king dom. If the beautiful blue corn flower which grows in grain fields had beer
 chosen it would seem more appropriate
 than the blossom of Indian corn.
 Idaho has the fragrant and beautiful
 syringa as its floral emblem. Colorado 1 has chosen the dainty white and blue i lcolumbine, which grows wild in pro fusion amid it's mountains and hills 1 Kansas sticks to its name of Sunnowel
 state by taking the flower which gives
 1t the name as its typical blossom, flower the use of which is greater thar
 it's beauty, for the masses of seed.
 have much value as poultry food Louisiana and Mississippi have choser their most typical shrub, or tree, th,
 magnolia, as their flower emblem ant
 amid the magnolia groves of these fal
 southern states one can inhale tha
 most delightful odors and view the
 most enchanting prospects, Minneso.
 ta has a typical bloom of her own, the
 moccasin flower, as its state blossom Oregon has also chosen a plant of in. digenous growth, the Oregon grape, as 1 its emblem. South Dakota has a na. 1 five err,v.+, +1,, ,,,...1,,,, . B.. g