State Flowers & Trees

Alabama

* Camellia—Flower

The Heart of Dixie has taken part in many conflicts. European settlers and Native Americans fought for land possession, and Union and Confederate soldiers fought over states' rights during the "War of the Northern Aggression" as Southerners called it. Alabama residents have also fought amongst themselves over a state floral representative.

Before the camellia reigned as the official state flower of Alabama, the goldenrod held the prestigious honor.

In 1927, during an Alabama legislative session, State Representative T. E. Martin of Montgomery County, introduced a bill to propose the goldenrod as the state flower. According to Marie Bankhead Owen, who was the Director of the Alabama Department of Archives and History, many years earlier school children had selected the goldenrod because: "it blooms everywhere and brightens the fall months with its liberal plume-like flowers." The bill passed on September 6, 1927, the same day the yellowhammer became the state bird and were signed into law by Governor Bibb Graves.

The goldenrod represented Alabama for over thirty years, until the ladies of Butler County decided the goldenrod was nothing more than a weed; therefore undeserving of the role as the state's floral symbol. The ladies thought the camellia to be more exotic and appropriate to uphold the title of state flower, even though camellias were not native to Alabama.

On August 26, 1959, Governor John M. Patterson signed House Bill No. 124 to amend Section 8, Title 55, of the Code of 1940 to read: "The camellia is hereby designated and named as the state flower of Alabama." This repealed the 1927 act that had designated the honor to the goldenrod.

Since there are several varieties of camellia grown within the state, in 1998 Representative Gerald Willis introduced House Bill No. 21 to propose the red camellia to represent Alabama. The bill also recommended that Alabama should adopt a native wildflower such as the oak-leaf hydrangea. Willis' proposal was sent to the Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Committee but no results were administered.

The following year, with the support from the Alabama Wildflower Society, Representative Willis proposed another bill to the House and, in June 1999, the Legislature named the red camellia, Camellia japonica L., as the official state flower of Alabama. And, perhaps to pacify concerned citizens about the camellia's Asian roots, the Legislature also adopted the oak-leaf hydrangea, Hydrangea quercifolia, Bartr., as the official state wildflower on the same day, signed into law by Governor Don Siegelman.

C. japonica is by far the greatest number of camellia species grown with relatively three thousand varieties, cultivars, and hybrids. The name camellia commemorates George Joseph Kamel, a Moravian botanist and Jesuit missionary who travelled to Asia and studied plants native to the Philippines. His association to the flower is hardly remembered, and he may have never seen one anyway, as botanist Carolus Linnaeus named the flower to honor Kamel (the K was changed to a C to accommodate the Latin alphabet).

Some people believe the camellia was named after the Lady of the Camellias, a famous nineteenth century French courtesan, Madeline du Plessis. She was a country girl, and aided by her beauty, went to Paris to make her fortune. She always carried a bouquet of white camellias twenty-five days of the month and red camellias the other five days, probably to signify she was "indisposed." Her early death inspired the novel, Lady of the Camellias by Alexandre Dumas, her real-life lover, who published the book in 1848. Shortly afterward the story about love, social conduct, and purity of one's heart became a successful screen play and opera.

During the late eighteenth century the camellia made its way to America and became a favorite in southern gardens. It is mainly used for borders and formation hedges. Camellia plants can produce flowers up to five inches wide, with a yellow center, and overlapping petals (the bloom duration and color depends on the species). Although the plants grow slowly, they can eventually reach up to twenty feet high. The leaves, a glossy deep green, remain year round.

In general, the camellia symbolizes admiration, perfection, and pity. However the red camellia japonica signifies unpretending excellence. Wonder if Madeline du Plessis knew that!

* Oak-leaf Hydrangea—Wildflower

There are two basic types of hydrangeas: the garden and the greenhouse. The garden variety is hardy and grown outdoors in the ground. The greenhouse genus is typically grown for floral shops and grocery stores for gift giving. They can, however, be planted out of doors but must be watered regularly, sometimes twice a day, until the roots are well established.

Hydrangeas became popular in Europe after a colonial botanist from Pennsylvania had taken the species to England. During a period of time, noble maidens were taught to react with as much indifference as possible when courting, which led to the hydrangea's symbol of heartlessness.

H. quercifolia, Bartr., one of the few hydrangeas native to North America, is found in every section of Alabama. Like the camellia, Carolus Linnaeus also named the hydrangea, which comes from two Greek words: hydor meaning water, and aggeion meaning a vessel, alluding to the cup-shaped fruits. The name quericfolia means oak-leaves with flowers, and Bartr refers to the eighteenth century botanist William Bartram who discovered the plant while on his plant explorations from the Carolinas to the Florida panhandle in the 1770s.

It produces large white blossoms in April and May that spike above green oak-shaped leaves. During the summer these blooms turn a deep rose color and persist into the winter. In autumn the leaves may turn red, orange, yellow and/or...