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Florida State Symbols, Songs, and Emblems
For the latest symbols information, visit the NETSTATE CHRONICLE.
| Designation | Symbol / Emblem | Adopted |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sources...Florida Department of State, Florida Kids: State Symbols, <http://www.flheritage.com/kids/symbols.cfm> (Accessed 17 December 2009)
|
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| Great seal | Find out more... | 1868 | ||||
| Flag | Find out more... | 1900 | ||||
| Flower | Orange Blossom (Citrus sinensis) | 1909 | ||||
| Bird | Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) | 1927 | ||||
| Tree | Sabal Palmetto Palm (Sabal palmetto) | 1953 | ||||
| Beverage | Orange Juice | 1967 | ||||
| Shell | Horse Conch (Pleuroploca gigantea) | 1969 | ||||
| Gem | Moonstone | 1970 | ||||
| Play | Cross and Sword by Paul Green | 1973 | ||||
| Freshwater fish | Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides floridanus) | 1975 | ||||
| Marine mammal | Manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris) | 1975 | ||||
| Saltwater fish | Atlantic Sailfish (Istiophorus platypterus) | 1975 | ||||
| Saltwater mammal | Porpoise (Tursiops truncates) | 1975 | ||||
| Air fair | Central Florida Air Fair | 1976 | ||||
| Litter control symbol | Keep Florida Beautiful, Incorporated, service mark | 1978 | ||||
| Pageant | Indian River Pageant, a Florida historical pageant presented annually by the citizens of Brevard County | 1979 | ||||
| Stone | Agatized Coral | 1979 | ||||
| Festival | Calle Ocho Open House | 1980 | ||||
| Animal | Florida Panther (Puma concolor coryi) | 1982 | ||||
| Opera program | The Greater Miami Opera Association; the Orlando Opera Company, Incorporated; and the Florida State University School of Music (Closed its doors in 2009) | 1983 | ||||
| Railroad museums | The Orange Blossom Special Railroad Museum, West Palm Beach;
The Gold Coast Railroad Museum, Inc. and the Gold Coast Railroad, Inc.; The Florida Gulf Coast Railroad Museum, Inc., Tampa. |
1984 | ||||
| Transportation museum | The Florida Museum of Transportation and History, Fernandina Beach | 1985 | ||||
| American folk dance | Square dance | 1986 | ||||
| Reptile | American Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) | 1987 | ||||
| Fiddle contest | Florida State Fiddlers' Association in cooperation with the Department of State at the Stephen Foster State Folk Culture Center, White Springs. | 1989 | ||||
| Soil | Myakka Fine Sand (sandy, siliceous, hyperthermic Aeric Haplaquods) | 1989 | ||||
| Moving image center and archive | The Louis Wolfson II Media History Center, Inc., Miami | 1989 | ||||
| Band | The St. Johns River City Band | 1990 | ||||
| Wildflower | Coreopsis spp. L. (Tickseed) | 1991 | ||||
| Renaissance festival | Italian Renaissance Festival, Vizcaya presented by Renaissance Historical Society of Florida, Inc. | 1994 | ||||
| Rodeo | Silver Spurs Rodeo (Osceola County) | 1994 | ||||
| Butterfly | Zebra Longwing (Heliconius charitonius) | 1996 | ||||
| Sports hall of fame | The Florida Sports Hall of Fame, Lake City, Columbia County | 1999 | ||||
| Citrus archive | The Florida Citrus Archives, dedicated to Thomas B. Mack and located at Florida Southern College in Lakeland. | 2001 | ||||
| Fruit | Orange (Citrus sinensis) | 2005 | ||||
| Maritime museum | Admiral John H. Fetterman State of Florida Maritime Museum and Research Center Was to be built, but this looks like it's not going to happen. Project no longer viable for the University of West Florida. As of ground has not been broken. Designation set to expire July 1, 2015. | 2006 | ||||
| Pie | Key Lime Pie | 2006 | ||||
| Anthem | "Florida (Where the Sawgrass Meets the Road)," words and music by Jan Hinton | 2008 | ||||
| Heritage horse | Florida Cracker Horse or Marshtackie (Expires July 1, 2018 unless renewed) | 2008 | ||||
| Saltwater reptile | Loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) Expires July 1, 2018 unless renewed) | 2008 | ||||
| Song | "Florida, My Florida," by Rev. Dr. C. V. Waugh.
"The S’wanee River (Old Folks at Home)," by Stephen C. Foster. "Old Folks at Home," originally by Stephen C. Foster but now with revised lyrics. |
1913
1935 2008 |
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| Tortoise | Gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) | 2008 | ||||
| Honey | Tupelo honey | 2016 | ||||
Making laws in Florida
The Florida State Senate offers a comprehensive Information Center to help us understand how laws are made in Florida. The Florida House of Representatives offers a chart documenting How an Idea Becomes a Law
and Guidelines for Bill Drafting.
Additional Information
Florida Kids: State Symbols: from the Florida Department of State.
Florida
Facts and Symbols
Emily McAuliffe
Florida Facts and Symbols, by Emily McAuliffe. 24 pages. Publisher: Capstone Press; Rev Upd edition (August 2003) Reading level: Grades 3-4. Interest level: Grades 3-9. Perfect for report writing! Easy-to-read text covers major Florida symbols such as the state flag, seal, bird, tree, flower, animal, and more. A "Fast Facts" section highlights the state's capital city, largest city, physical size, population, natural resources, farm products, and primary manufactured goods. Also included are full-page maps that introduce the concept of the map key, which is great for teaching map-reading skills.
State Names, Seals
Flags and Symbols
Benjamin F. Shearer
Barbara S. Shearer
State Names, Seals, Flags and Symbols, by Benjamin F. Shearer, Barbara S. Shearer. 544 pages. Greenwood Press; 3 Sub edition (October 30, 2001) This is one of the best, and most comprehensive, books we could find about the official state names and nicknames, mottoes, seals, flags, capitols, flowers, trees, birds, songs, and miscellaneous designations of each state. This, coupled with the 1938 Shankle book, formed the basis of our symbol library. If you're serious about your states symbols, you'll want to have this book and the one below. This book also contains information about state holidays, license plates, sports teams, universities and other trivia.
State Names, Flags, Seals, Songs, Birds, Flowers, and Other Symbols, by George Earlie Shankle. 522 pages. Reprint Services Corp; Revised edition (June 1971) Reprint of the 1938 revised edition. The first comprehensive book about our state symbols! From the preface: "This book grew out of the desire of its author to know, about his native state, a great many facts which he found exceedingly difficult to obtain. After three years of research in the Library of Congress, he is able to give to the public this storehouse of information, which could have been gathered from not library less fertile in source material..."
Visit the NETSTATE Florida State Book Store for additional Florida related books, including Florida Reference Books, History, Biographies and Cookbooks.
