Q. When did the bluebonnet become the state flower of Texas? Is it really illegal to pick bluebonnets?
In 1901, the Texas Legislature A. decided the state of Texas needed to have a state flower. The open cotton boll and the prickly-pear cactus flower were two hot contenders. The National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the State of Texas suggested that the bluebonnet would be the most appropriate, and their opinion prevailed. The bluebonnet was approved by Governor Joseph D. Sayers on March 7, 1901.
However, the resolution named the Lupinus subcarnosus as the state flower. Texas legislators didn’t realize at the time that there were six species of bluebonnets within the borders of Texas, and the one they specified was not the most common one. According to The Texas Bluebonnet by Jean Andrews, “Lupinus subcarnosus is the delicate low plant that paints the sandy, rolling hills of Texas with waves of azure blue in the early spring. However, some citizens believed it was the least attractive of the Texas bluebonnets… Of the six [species] the consensus of bluebonnet lovers put forward Lupinus texensis, the larger, bolder, deeper blue beauty that blankets most of Central Texas.”
