~The Natural State~.......INDIANA

[olena]

State Bird

Northern Cardinal
Cardinalis cardinalis
Red Cardinal

Description 8-9" (20-23 cm). Male bright red with crest, black face, stout red bill. Female buff-brown tinged with red on crest, wings, and tail.
Voice Rich what-cheer, cheer, cheer; purty-purty-purty-purty or sweet-sweet-sweet-sweet. Also a metallic chip.
Habitat Woodland edges, thickets, brushy swamps, and gardens.
Nesting 3 or 4 pale green eggs, spotted with red-brown, in a deep cup of twigs, leaves, and plant fibers concealed in a thicket.
Range Resident in eastern United States and southern Canada (locally) south to Gulf Coast, and from southern California, Arizona, and southern Texas southward.
Discussion This species, named after the red robes worn by Roman Catholic cardinals, has extended its range northward into southern Canada in recent decades. Cardinals are aggressive birds that occupy territories year-round. Both sexes are accomplished songsters and may be heard at any time of year, rather than just in the spring when most other birds are singing. Seeds form a main part of the diet, although insects are eaten in the breeding season. These birds often come to feeders in winter.

 

[olena]

State Flower

Peony

The peony (Paeonia) was adopted as the state flower by the 1957 General Assembly.
Poets linked Indiana with the blossom of the tulip tree, or yellow poplar, as early as 1870. But the carnation was adopted as Indiana’s state flower on March 15, 1913. From 1931 to 1957 the zinnia was the state flower. In 1957, a bill to adopt the blossom of the tulip tree was submitted. But the Senate substitute the dogwood blossom! Interestingly enough, the Representative who proposed the Peony as state flower was a commercial peony grower in his full time employment. On March 13, 1957, the peony became Indiana’s fourth state flower! The peony blooms the last of May and early June in various shades of red and pink and also in white; it occurs in single and double forms. No particular variety or color was designated by the General Assembly. It is cultivated widely throughout the state and is extremely popular for decorating gravesites for Memorial Day.It blooms from late May until early June. It grows in various shades of red, pink, and white.
Herbaceous (P. lactiflora)
Most peonies available in garden centers or nurseries are hybrids of two major classes--herbaceous peonies or tree peonies. Just what are their primary differences?

They are mostly natives to Asia Minor and Europe. Almost all herbaceous peonies are descendants of a Chinese species known as P. lactiflora. These hybrids reach 2 to 3 feet in height, having dark green divided leaves that are shiny and very showy. Peony foliage is bold and striking, even in the fall when it usually embraces the reddish colors of autumn.

Herbaceous peonies typically bloom in late spring, boasting exotic 3 to 6 inch heavily scented blossoms. The blossoms are ordinarily very fragrant and may be single, double or anemone form (with broad, outer petals and a pincushion-like mound of central petals or flowers - modified stamens). Herbaceous peonies thrive in USDA Zones 3 to 8, and bloom profusely after a period of cold winter chill.

Tree Peony (P. suffruticosa)
These are cultivars of P. suffruticosa and are natives to Japan and China. and descendants of P. suffruticosa, a Chinese shrub. This variety is an open, somewhat woody deciduous shrub that can reach 6 feet in height. As with herbaceous peonies, tree peonies are long-lived and resent being transplanted, so you should choose their locations with care. Tree peonies are also more hardy to cold than their herbaceous relatives. The blossoms of tree peonies vary both in size and color, depending on their individual variety. P. suffruticosa is the main Tree Peony. It bears large, single or double white flowers blotched with crimson in May and June.

 

[olena]

State Tree

Tulip Tree
Liriodendron tulipifera
Yellow Poplar

Description One of the tallest and most beautiful eastern hardwoods, with a long, straight trunk, a narrow crown that spreads with age, and large showy flowers resembling tulips or lilies.
Height: 80-120' (24-37 m).
Diameter: 2-3' (0.6-0.9 m), sometimes much larger.
Leaves: 3-6" (7.5-15 cm) long and wide. Blades of unusual shape, with broad tip and base nearly straight like a square, and with 4 or sometimes 6 short-pointed paired lobes; hairless; long-stalked. Shiny dark green above, paler beneath; turning yellow in autumn.
Bark: dark gray; becoming thick and deeply furrowed.
Twigs: brown, stout, hairless, with ring scars at nodes.
Flowers: 1 1/2-2" (4-5 cm) long and wide; cup-shaped, with 6 rounded green petals (orange at base); solitary and upright at end of leafy twig; in spring.
Fruit: 2 1/2-3" (6-7.5 cm) long; conelike; light brown; composed of many overlapping 1- or 2-seeded nutlets 1-1 1/2" (2.5-4 cm) long (including narrow wing); shedding from upright axis in autumn; the axis persistent in winter.
Habitat Moist well-drained soils, especially valleys and slopes; often in pure stands.
Range Extreme S. Ontario east to Vermont and Rhode Island, south to N. Florida, west to Louisiana, and north to S. Michigan; to 1000' (305 m) in north and to 4500' (1372 m) in southern Appalachians.
Discussion Introduced into Europe from Virginia by the earliest colonists and grown also on the Pacific Coast. Very tall trees with massive trunks existed in the primeval forests but were cut for the valuable soft wood. Pioneers hollowed out a single log to make a long, lightweight canoe. One of the chief commercial hardwoods, Yellow Poplar is used for furniture, as well as for crates, toys, musical instruments, and pulpwood.

Previous Natural States
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California
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Previous Natural Provinces
Alberta
British Columbia
Manitoba
New Brunswick
Newfoundland
Northwest Territories
Ontario
Prince Edward Island
Quebec
Saskatchewan
Yukon Territory

 

[Snowwark]

Wow, this is a little unusual, only 3 natural state symbols for Indiana! I wonder why? Maybe because of all the trouble they had finally deciding on the state flower? What a beautiful choice they made in the end!!!

Is this the first state to have the peony as the state flower, Olena? I love that pic, it looks like one of Deb's photos!

Thank you very much, Heather!

 

[olena]

I don't know why they have so few.

Indiana is the only state to have the peony as its official floral emblem.

 

[nativetxn]

More great photos and information! Thanks, Heather.