Show V 12 e P 4 IN N N WILD liuo GOLDENROD T by ELMO SCOTT WATSON T LAST we are to have a national floral emblem at least we shall have one if 1 the of the people made known BS as the result of a nationwide referendum are translated into legislative action by congress for by a bis big majority the american people have chosen the wild rose as the national flower in a voting contest conducted by the american nature association which closed recently when the ballots were counted it was found that out of a total of the wild rose hild had polled votes almost twice as many as those received by the columbine the nearist contender so there seems to be ao doubt as to the wild roses preem pre em lence in popular favor the columbine received votes which in turn was more than twice tivice as many as aai those received by the runner up athe the violet which had fourth place went to the goldenrod with votes the big tour four in this contest simply ran away from the other candidates for the phlox which early in the campaign was listed with the goldenrod as a strong contender received only 30 votes the american beauty rose received the daisy the mountain laurel and the dogwood A total of votes are listed as scattering since they were cast for various other flowers not named by the american nature association in announcing the result of the alie election the wild rose won in every state ex capt colorado florida minnesota and washington without any group actively working for it nith ith no cam laign committee in any state and with a number of organizations active ly trying to defeat it it withstood every assault upon tile the lead gained early in the campaign the columbine supported vigorously by the newly organized columbine society during the last flays days of the referendum had backers bachers who threatened durin early december to swee sweep P under the rose in A flood of votes when th contest closed however the leader was still gaining illow decisive was the choice of the people says arthur newton pack editor of nature magazine the official publication of the american nature association Is indicated by the standing of the seven other leaden leading candidates more than ca 05 per cent of t vote was divided between the two leaders and there Is no question of these being the national favorites the vio let goldenrod american beauty rose phlox daisy dogiN dogwood and mountain laurel which finished in the ordo orde listed never had a chance of victory all the other flowers grouped under scattering received but 31 per cent of the total the national flower campaign was begun late in 1993 3 first to engender an interest and love for wild flowers secondly to promote their conservation and thirdly to direct attention to nature generally mr rack pack also points out ont the fact that this referendum accurately reflects the sentiment of the nation in the matter of choosing a national flower since the milli lillior or votes cast probably represent as large lare a proportion of nature lovers as do the totals in a presidential election in represent ing the grand total of eligible voters he regards it as sig that hat thi ohp proportionate vote cast ca t tor for tile the leading candidates varied little litti e after the ballot malk maik had len been pas passed sed except in the last days of tile the cam laign in addition to crystallizing sentiment in fa favor vor of a national lower flower the referendum hd other beneficial be nefi cial results he believes concerning these he says the referendum has been eminently successful A large proportion of school children voted along citizen ship lines suggested by the association in such a manner that there Is no question of the benefit they derived A typical campaign Is the one conducted by the franklin junior high school I 1 of green bay wis where all the state flowers and candidates were illustrated on the school bulletin board and discussion preceded the actual voting by a month IF educators who assisted the voting EtU elf have US as in wore more than it a dozen eerten that the campaign ties has fostered citizenship by giving the school calill drea alren opportunity to vote in a 11 national ina COLUMBINE V VIOLET event it also created knowledge of history and nature both of which had to be studied to arrive at an intelligent opinion while the tracing of adult education Is much more difficult the association feels confident that the inter est expressed through the votes was not merely for the moment in more than thirty commonwealths statewide campaigns were conducted by local organizations the garden club of america the daughters of the american revolution the general fed aeration of clubs the state and national organizations of camp fire girls and girl scouts the columbine society nature clubs and conservation groups scattered over the entire nation took a significant part pan in achieving the result in choosing the wild rose as our notional national symbol new honor bonor has been paid to a flower v which aich has always been a favorite of mankind two thousand years ago in athens the rose was crowned queen of the flowers but even before that the romantic songs and legends of the babylonians persians and the chinese testified flod to the fact that it was cultivated in the earliest days it became the national emblem of england and in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries it gave its name to a long series of civil wars the war of the roses between the adherents of the house of york who ho wore the white rose and those of th the e louse house of lancaster who wore the red rose early in the recent campaign opponents of the rose used as an ar argument u against it that it was the eng lish flower but this was refuted 1 the statement that that emblem Is the cultivated rose whereas the one for which votes were being sought was the wild rose which grows in different in every state in the union the campaign did not designate one particular variety of wild rose but left it possible for each community to feel that its local representative of the genus was the choice of the country for this reason the states of geor gla ia iowa new york and north dakota can take pride in the fact that their state emblem has been chosen as the national flower tile the list of state flowers Is as follows alabama goldenrod arizona sahuaro cactus arkansas apple blossom california poppy colorado columbine connecticut mountain laurel delaware 4 peach blossom florida om orange ge blossom ga georgia gia cherokee Che rose I 1 idaho syringa illinois violet indiana tulip tree flower iowa wild rose kansas ken sunflower kentucky trumpet vines vine lout louisiana inus maynolia maine main pine cone M maryland ryland Il lackeyed susan mayflower michigan apple bloss blosa oca minne ota moccasin mississippi mainous missouri MIx hawthorn Haw thoro montana a bitter root nebraska goldenrod nevada e sae brush now new Hamp abbe purple lilac iilah N new w jersey Jer fey violet nw york ross KOM new mexico cactus north carolina Cx rolina goldenrod north dakota DlA of prairie row rose scarlet carnation oklahoma mistletoe oregon grekon Ore Kon f oregon craps rap pennsylvania none rhode island violet south carolina yellow south dakota Del fota pasque pasqua flower tennessee passion flower texas bluebonnet bannet butth 7 scio lily vermont rod red clover virginia american maricon A dogwood doff wood rhododendron west virginia Rhodo rhododendron dando wisconsin vloet violet wyoming indian b bruah h it will be noticed from the above that pennsylvania la Is the only state which does not have a state flower curiously enough it was the keystone state which led all the others other in the total number of votes cast in the recent referendum pennsylvanian Pennsyl total was votes ohio was second with new york third with 6 and wisconsin fourth with an analysis of vote by states in relation to state flowers reveals some interesting te facts since the columbine Is the state flower of colorado it was natural to expect that colorado should give more votes to that flower than to any other and it did although it gave only more votes to the columbine than to the wild rose fourteen other states gave more votes to the colorado state flower than did that state itself washington supporting ing it more vigorously than any other with votes the votes by states for the rose the winner and the three leading con tenders was as follows wild colvil gol cola state stain ross rase bine violet anrod alabama 1918 arizona 1020 arkansas 1933 86 Ca california Wornia 2892 colorado connecticut 1797 delaware 1 18 it D C florida 53 georgia 34 1 1106 idaho 2526 illinois indiana 2037 1664 iowa kansas 1204 kentucky 2318 louisiana maine 1485 maryland 1758 28 S massachusetts 78 7 michigan minnesota mississippi 1303 1305 2421 missouri 2348 Mon montana taa 1217 nebraska 1530 nevada 33 now new hampshire 1003 1006 new jersey 1734 N new a w mexico new york yok 2561 north carolina 2296 1765 2123 2128 north dakota 1197 ohio oklahoma 2956 1401 oregon 1208 1200 1062 1243 pennsylvania rhode island 61 south Caro carolina luaa 1383 south dakota 2370 2363 tennessee tennesse Tennes sf 2208 2881 2891 texas 1410 utah 2148 1501 48 vermont 1140 1440 68 Virg rd 2148 2143 1836 washington 3 1551 west virginia 2391 1207 1726 wisconsin wyoming no state 48 40 totals total the violet Is the state flower of illinois new jersey ithone island and wisconsin yet both illinois and new jersey gave more votes to both the wild rose and the columbine than they did to their own state flower both rhode island and wisconsin gave more votes to the wild rose than to the violet but both placed the columbine third in the running A similar situation Is shown in nebraska and north carolina where the goldenrod Is the state flower roth both states voted tor for the wild rose over their state flower in nebraska the goldenrod was second with the columbine third and the violet fourth cut but in north carolina the state flower was placed third beating out only the violet another interesting development was the failure of the phlox a leading contender early in the campaign to make a good race tor for the honors especially ally when it apparently had bad so many points in its favor one of its strongest supporters was dr edgar T wherry a well known botanist and chemist |