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Alabama state symbols

Alabama has 50 official state symbols. The oldest is the flag of 1895; the newest include the state cookie of 2023 and the state native grass of 2024. Most are written into one chapter of the Code of Alabama, and several were proposed by schoolchildren.

50 official designations · every law checked October 23, 2026

How Alabama names its symbols

Nearly all of Alabama’s symbols live in one place: Title 1, Chapter 2 of the Code of Alabama, a list that runs from the coat of arms in section 1-2-1 to the newest additions in the 1-2-40s. Each one was created by an act of the legislature. A few others rest only on a joint resolution that was never written into the Code, such as the official state whiskey (2004), the Autauga County artesian water (2019) and a second state barbecue championship in Hartselle (2011). They are listed below with the resolutions behind them.

Flags, seals and a change of flower

The first symbols were the ones every state needed. The flag came in 1895, the yellowhammer in 1927 and the state song in 1931. In 1939 the legislature adopted the coat of arms, the Latin motto and the present Great Seal in one burst of work. The state flower took two tries. The legislature chose the goldenrod in 1927 but replaced it in 1959 with the camellia, an Asian garden shrub. Alabama later added a native wildflower, the oak-leaf hydrangea, in 1999, and the law requires specimens of the state’s plants to be kept in the Auburn University Herbarium.

Ideas from classrooms

Alabama’s children have shaped the list. Third graders at Fairhope Elementary School campaigned for the blackberry, which became the state fruit in 2004. In 2021 the sweet potato became the state vegetable after a proposal from Kristin Smith and her homeschool class in Harvest, and the act thanks them by name. Its findings also note that Alabama ranked sixth in the nation in sweet potato production.

A taste for food symbols

Food has been the fastest-growing part of the list. The pecan became the state nut in 1982, and the Lane cake the state cake in 2016. The cake was created by Emma Rylander Lane of Clayton, who printed the recipe in her own cookbook in 1898; Harper Lee later mentioned it in To Kill a Mockingbird. The peanut followed in 2022, in a law that honors George Washington Carver’s research at Tuskegee Institute, and in 2023 the legislature adopted the Yellowhammer Cookie, a Montgomery recipe made with peanuts and pecans, the state legume and the state nut.

Rare animals and an ancient whale

Several of Alabama’s animals are rare. The Red Hills salamander lives in only a handful of south-central counties and is federally threatened. The Alabama red-bellied turtle was chosen in 1990 “in recognition of its occurrence in the State of Alabama only,” but it has since been found in coastal Mississippi too. The black bear, adopted in 2006, was once common across the state; today conservation work focuses on a population in the Mobile River Basin.

The state fossil is the most unusual symbol of all: Basilosaurus cetoides, a whale that swam over what is now Alabama about 40 million years ago. Its name means “king lizard,” because the scientists who first described it took it for a reptile.

Two quirks in the law

The Code sometimes gets its Latin wrong. The state freshwater fish is the largemouth bass, but the law gives the scientific name of the spotted bass. The state fruit is the blackberry, but its Latin name in the law belongs to the black raspberry. Neither mistake has been corrected, so both appear here as the law has them.

More about the main symbols

The flag, the yellowhammer and the camellia each have their own page. The Alabama overview covers the nickname, the motto and the state’s five capitals.

1 1890s 1910s 1 4 1930s 1 3 1950s 2 2 1970s 8 12 1990s 6 5 2010s 5 2020s
Official symbols adopted per decade. The busiest decade was the 1990s, with twelve.

Flag, seal, song, motto and nickname

Animals

Plants and fungi

Earth and sky

Food and drink

Songs, words and language

Culture and history

Government emblems

Places and institutions

Questions about Alabama's symbols

What is the Alabama state bird?
The yellowhammer, the local name for the northern flicker, a woodpecker. It became the state bird in 1927, and Alabama also has a state game bird, the wild turkey.
What is the Alabama state flower?
The camellia, adopted in 1959 to replace the goldenrod. Alabama also has a native state wildflower, the oak-leaf hydrangea.
What is Alabama's state dessert?
The Lane cake, a layered cake with a whiskey-laced filling created by Emma Rylander Lane of Clayton and first published in 1898. The law calls it the official state cake.
Does Alabama have a state fossil?
Yes. Basilosaurus cetoides, an ancient whale. It is illegal to take one of its fossils out of the state without the governor's written approval.
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