Minnesota recognizes 13 official state symbols, not including the state flag and state seal. The oldest of these is the state flower, the pink and white showy lady's slipper. Of more recent vintage is the only insect on the list: the monarch butterfly. They share official status with such Minnesota icons as the Norway pine (designated state tree in 1953), the walleye (state fish, 1965) and wild rice (state grain, 1977).
The showy lady's slipper--scientific name Cypripedium reginae--is one of 43 varieties of orchid that grow in Minnesota, according to the state Department of Natural Resources. It grows about 1 or 2 feet tall and has white petals and a pink pouch. It blooms from June to early July, and one plant can produce as many as a half-million seeds a year, each about the size of a dust particle. Individual plants can live 100 years.
The lady's slipper was designated as the state flower in 1902. The DNR says the plant is "uncommon" in the state, so since 1925, it has been illegal in Minnesota to pick the flowers in the wild or to dig up wild plants.
Though Minnesotans have long joked that the mosquito is the "state bird" (actually, it's the loon), the only insect recognized as an official state symbol is the monarch butterfly, or Danaus plexippus. It's also referred to as the milkweed butterfly because its caterpillars eat only milkweed. These orange and black creatures are typically 3 to 4.5 inches long and weigh less than an ounce apiece. Monarchs are among the few butterflies that fly south for the winter like birds do. Each summer produces about four generations of monarchs in Minnesota, says the Minnesota secretary of state's office. The last generation of the year flies down to Mexico and hibernates there for the winter.
The monarch was designated the state butterfly in 1998. Monarchs are plentiful throughout the state, so they receive no special protection under state law.
The designation of the lady's slipper and the monarch as state symbols is written into law. The state flower is declared in Chapter 1, Section 142 of the Minnesota Statutes. The butterfly is declared in Chapter 1, Section 1497.
