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Flowers & Floral Emblems

The term floral emblem, which refers to flowers specifically, is primarily used in Australia and Canada. In the United States, the term state flower is more often used.

North Dakota Symbols

North Dakota State Flower

Wild Prairie Rose

(Rosa blanda or Rosa arkansana)

Adopted in 1907.

The Wild Prairie Rose, Rosa blanda or Rosa arkansana, The flower has been identified as Rosa Pratincola in species. The flower sports five bright pink petals with a tight cluster of yellow stamens in the center.

The Wild Prairie Rose grows along roadsides, in pastures, and in native meadows.

Wild roses are found throughout the state and bloom from June through late summer. The flower, in varying shades of pink, is set off by many yellow stamens in the center.

Shrub with erect stems to 1.5 ft (45 cm) tall.
Twigs red-brown with many straight spines and bristles.
Leaves alternate, pinnately compound, 5-9 leaflets; leaflets elliptic, 1.6-6.4 cm (0.6-2.5) inches in length; glabrous, lustrous above, soft pubescent beneath; acute at base and apex; margins coarsely toothed; petiole glabrous or somewhat pubescent; stipules adnate, 1-2.5 cm (0.4-1 in) in length, margins entire; rachis glabrous or somewhat pubescent.
Inflorescence a corymb, peduncles glabrous, flowers 2-4, 2.5-5 cm (1-2 in) in diameter; sepals 5, lanceolate, 1-1.2 cm (3/8-5/8 in) long; petals 5, white, obcordate; styles not exserted, but persistent; stamens numerous; flowers appear from May to August.
Fruit a hip, 12-15 mm (1/2-3/5 in) diameter, subglobose to ellipsoid, sepals ascending, red; nutlets flattened on one side, light tan, tuft of hairs at the base; fruits mature late August.
Habitat: prairies, woodland margin and disturbed areas.
Medicinal uses: The Omahas steeped wild prairie rose hips and roots to treat inflammation of the eye. The Pawnees collected leaf galls which were crushed and applied to burns.

Taxonomic Hierarchy
Kingdom	Plantae -- Plants
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta -- Vascular plants
Superdivision	Spermatophyta -- Seed plants
Division	Magnoliophyta -- Flowering plants
Class	Magnoliopsida -- Dicotyledons
Subclass	Rosidae –
Order	Rosales –
Family	Rosaceae – Rose family
Genus	Rosa L. – rose
Species	Rosa arkansana Porter – prairie rose Rosa blanda Ait. – smooth rose

State Flowers

Find images and a brief history of the flowers representing, usually by legislative action, the state symbols of each of the fifty states. Many of the state flowers are actually trees -- some states have chosen the same species as state tree and as state flower.

flow·er (flour)
n.
1.
a. It is the reproductive structure of many seed-bearing plants, typically having either specialized male or female organs or both male and female organs, like stamens and a pistil, enclosed in an outer envelope of petals and sepals. b. Such a structure having showy or colorful parts; a blossom.
2. A plant that is cultivated or cherished for its blossoms. 3. The condition or a time of having developed flowers: The violets were in full flower. 4. Something, such as an decoration or a figure of speech that resembles a flower in shape, fineness, or attractiveness.