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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.

Virginia Symbols

Virginia State Flower

American Dogwood

(Cornus florida)

Adopted in March 1918.

In March 1918, the state floral emblem commonly known as the American dogwood ,Cornus florida, was adopted. It was selected to foster a feeling of pride in our state and to stimulate an interest in the history and traditions of the Commonwealth.

Flowers are highly modified leaves that perform reproductive functions for plants that bear them. A flower petal is merely a special leaf that typically through brightly colored pigment may attract a pollinator. The actual reproductive work of the flower is conducted by the stamens (which bear pollen) and the pistil (which receives the pollen and allows it to contact the flower ovary, where a fruit is produced).

The small flower clusters on the Flowering Dogwood are surrounded by 4 large, showy bracts that are often mistaken as petals. Each quarter-inch flower has four tightly curved petals, plus two stamens and a single pistil. Flowers that have dropped their petals is a sign they likely have been pollinated. Eventually, after all the white bracts and tiny petals have fallen, the remaining flower parts will wither and turn brown, giving rise to several fertilized ovaries, the bright green berries that turn scarlet as they ripen.

Flower: Flowering dogwood blooms in either white or pink, depending on the cultivar, and 2 inches in diameter. Appearing March to April in the south, June in the north.
Plant Type: Deciduous
Leaf: Opposite, simple, arcuately veined, 3 to 6 inches long, oval in shape with an entire margin.
Fruit: A shiny, oval red drupe, 1/4 to 1/2 inch long, in clusters of 3 to 4. Maturing in September to October.
Twig: Slender, green or purple, later turning gray, often with a glaucous bloom. The terminal flower buds are clove-shaped, vegetative buds resemble a cat claw.
Bark: Gray when young, turning very scaly to blocky.
Form: A small tree with a short trunk that branches low, producing a flat-topped crown. Branches are opposite, and assume a "candelabra" appearance.

§ 7.1-38. Floral emblem.

The flower commonly known as American Dogwood (Cornus florida) is declared to be the floral emblem of the Commonwealth.

(Code 1950, § 7-36; 1966, c. 102.) Commonwealth

Taxonomic Hierarchy
Kingdom	Plantae -- Plants
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta -- Vascular plants
Superdivision	Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division	Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class	Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass	Rosidae –
Order	Cornales –
Family	Cornaceae – Dogwood family
Genus	Cornus L. – dogwood
Species	Cornus florida L. – flowering dogwood

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.