The Tennessee State Flower - The Iris

Did you know that the iris was the state of Tennesee's state flower? Most people consider the purple Iris to be the state flower locally. It is a beauty.

There is a very neat story to all of this.

The State of Tennessee is different from most of the other states in that it currently has no one flower generically named as an official flower or floral emblem. Instead, it has an official wild flower and an official cultivated flower, both designated most recently in 1973. There is a story behind this.

State Wildflower

The story of Tennessee's state wildflower, the passionflower, began in 1919 when state school children named it as their favorite and it was adopted as Tennessee's state flower. Yes, the passion flower was initially Tennessee's one and only state flower. It was adopted in 1919 by Senate Joint Resolution No. 13.

Here is a picture of a Passionflower