What unusual state symbol does your state have?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

Some unusual North Carolina state symbols:

State Art Medium: Clay

State Carnivorous Plant: Venus Fly Trap (which is a pretty well known plant, but its native range is very limited - only within about 100km of Wilmington, North Carolina)

State Christmas Tree: Fraser Fir (we’ve also got a regular old State Tree, of course, the Pine Tree)

State Folk Art: The Whirligigs by Vollis Simpson (I’m sure lots of states have some high-falutin’ state art, but the ol’ Tar Heel State has the Whirligigs, “kinetic sculptures”, some over 50 feet high, mostly built out of old farm machinery, implements, and metal scrap)

22

I think the first one describes people who are skeptics.

23

I think that’s also the official state soil. At least it’s all I ever saw down around RTP. Red clay everywhere.

24

Ooh., I knew about Antigo Silt Loam, but not the song. I like Wisconsin’s state fossil : The trilobite
Wisconsin has both a state rock (red granite) AND state mineral (galena). It also has a state microbe ( Lactococcus lactis – used in cheesemaking of course), and most importantly a state pastry (kringle)

Brian
Sate dance is the polka

25

There’s a phrase I never thought I’d hear.

I remember the effort to get Louie, Louie adopted as the state song of Washington. It started as a publicity stunt by a Seattle TV show called Almost Live, which was also where Bill Nye and Joel McHale got their start.

26

Really? The state that has a cartoon bear drinking beer? From the land of sky blue waters? That needs to change to Hamm’s beer.

You can’t leave us hanging without a picture. Nah, no problem there.

27

You have to wonder how much thought went into these. After all, these official state symbols of Texas were passed by the same Legislature that voted unanimously to honor the Boston Stranger for his “unconventional techniques involving population control.”

28

Hawaii’s state fish is the humuhumunukunukuapuaa, aka the reef triggerfish for you mainlanders. I have always been proud of the fact that I am able to pronounce the name flawlessly.

Hawaii’s state microbe is the Flavobacterium akiainvivens. Or will be at some point, as it is only proposed for now.

29

It’s a trick question. Because whichever one you choose, you always wonder if the other one is better. So the correct answer is “Christmas”, which is half red and half green.

BTW, just put up my first 25 lbs of green up in the freezer today. I’ll get the next sack tomorrow.

30

Oops - This has a very different meaning on this side of the Atlantic.

31

Michigan has TWO state stones. The state stone is the Petoskey stone (fossilized coral). The state GEMstone is the Isle Royal Greenstone. Scroll to the bottom of the following link for the full list of Michigan state symbols. (The article also mentions Utah having a state cooking pot, the Dutch Oven.)

https://www.mlive.com/news/g66l-2019/04/731d5a791e1233/the-surprising-stories-behind-michigans-state-symbols.htmlGreenstone.

32

See post 8.

33

I was on Pinel Island off St Martin, ready to place my lunch order when a fisherman ran up from his boat with his catch. Our waiter asked if I’d be interested in fresh triggerfish. There was one. It was delicious and beautiful as well. I’m sitting there preparing to dig in and other diners kept wandering over and taking pictures of my plate.

34

While the Wisconsin state bird is rather ordinary (Robin), I was surprised to learn that the scientific name of the Robin is “Turdus migratorius”.

35

In the UK, the bird they call a Robin is Erithacus rubecula, the European Robin. A totally different bird than our Robin, which is a thrush.

European Robin

36

Yep. The Michigan state bird is also the Robin. A few years back there was an effort to change the state bird 1) Because it wasn’t a year-round resident. 2) because the scientific name “Turdus” didn’t sound nice. I’m glad to say that the effort failed.