The state flower of Indiana is the peony. The peony was designated the state flower by the General Assembly on March 15, 1957.
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Introduction
Indiana’s State Flower is the peony. The peony is a beautiful flower that has many different colors. The most popular color of peony is pink, but it can also be white, red, or purple.
History
The peony became the state flower of Indiana in 1957. The General Assembly selected the flower after a long campaign led by the Indianapolis Chapter of the American Peony Society.
The House of Representatives had previously passed a bill selecting the tulip as the state flower, but the Senate rejected it in favor of the peony. Some legislators thought the tulip was too common, while others thought it was more appropriate for Michigan, which had adopted it as its state flower in 1897.
Description
The peony is a flowering plant in the genus Paeonia, the only genus in the family Paeoniaceae. Peonies are native to Asia, Europe and Western North America. Scientists differ on the number of species that can be distinguished ranging from 25 to 40, although most are largely interbred and many have been lost to cultivation. The type species for the genus is Paeonia officinalis L..
The flowers are large and showy, generally pink, red or white. The flowers are 5–11 cm diameter with five or six petals. In the wild species, subtending leaves usually have seven or eight (but can be as many as twelve) leaflets; these may be entire, but are often toothed or lobed. Wild peony flowers are hermaphroditic, whereas cultivated varieties may be either perfect-flowered (i.e., hermaphroditic), female-flowered (i.e., with pistils but reduced or absent stamens), or male-flowered (i.e., with stamens but pistils absent). Peonies typically have compound staminodes rather than separate male flowers; however “personata” types possess both kind of flowers within each head.[2] Different cultivars bloom at different times throughout the spring; A number of cultivars bloom only once in spring while others will rebloom if cut back after the major flowering period[3]
It was adopted as Indiana’s state flower in 1957.
Significance
The peony was designated the official state flower of Indiana in 1957.Peonies are native to Asia, Europe and Western North America and have been cultivated for thousands of years. There are over 1,000 varieties of peonies, which come in a wide range of colors including white, pink, red and yellow. The flowers are most commonly seen in shades of pink and red.
The peony is a hardy plant that can live for over 100 years. The flowers bloom in late spring or early summer and range in size from 2 to 10 inches in diameter. Peonies are often used in bouquets and floral arrangements due to their large size and beautiful color.
The Indiana General Assembly chosen the peony as the state flower because it is ” adopts itself readily to culture; is highly prized by florists for its large, attractive blossoms; [and] blooms over a long period.”
