The Camellia State
This is a pretty crazy week for me in my real job, so prepare for a bit of a "fluffy" post. Let's talk flowers!
In 1959, the Alabama State Legislature named the Camellia the state flower of Alabama. Here's the specific law on the books today:
The plot thickens though, because the Camellia is a usurper. In fact, it's a foreign usurper. Alabama's original state flower was the Goldenrod, and from 1927 to 1959 everyone was happy with that. The Yellowhammer was also the state bird, so they even had a color theme going. In the 50s, one group started arguing that the goldenrod can't be the state flower, because it's really just a weed. The fact that this group grew camellias was completely unrelated to their protestations. They appealed to a state legislator, and in August 1959 the Camellia's coup was complete. But why the camellia? What tied it to Alabama?
It turns out, there isn't much about the Camellia that screams "Alabama!". Camellias are actually from East Asia, and the Camellia japonica specifically is native to the southern regions of Korea and Japan, as well as a region in China just across the East China Sea. The oldest known camellias in Europe are in Campo Bello, Portugal, and were planted around 1550. The camellia didn't make it to North America until 1807, when it was originally sold as a greenhouse plant. The best connection I can make between Alabama and the camellia is that they've both been a part of the United States for about the same length of time.
The historical marker commemorating the Camellia's rise to Alabama supremacy can be seen next, along with a transcription of the text and a shot of the marker's surroundings on the northern end of the Capitol grounds.