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California state symbols

California has 52 official state symbols. The oldest is the Great Seal, designed in 1849. The newest are the giant garter snake and the bigberry manzanita, added in 2025. Most of the list is recent: 17 symbols have been added since 2010.

52 official designations · every law checked October 23, 2026

How California picks its symbols

A California state symbol is created the same way as any other law. A legislator introduces a bill, it passes both houses, the governor signs it, and the new emblem is written into the Government Code, in the chapter on state emblems that starts at section 420. A handful were made official by a legislative resolution instead of a statute, which is why the golden trout (1947), the Pasadena Playhouse (1937) and the shelter pet (2015) do not appear in the code. Every entry below lists the law or resolution behind it.

That process also explains what is missing. Avocados and artichokes are often called California’s state fruit and vegetable, but they come from a 2013 proclamation by an acting governor, not from the Legislature, and they are left off this list.

A list that started slowly

For its first half-century California had a seal and little else. The Great Seal dates from the 1849 constitutional convention. The poppy followed in 1903 and the Bear Flag in 1911, and by the end of the 1940s the only additions were a bird, a tree, a fish and a theater. The list has grown much faster in recent years. Seventeen symbols have been adopted since 2010, from the lace lichen and the banana slug to the Dungeness crab and the pallid bat.

Many of them began outside the Capitol. The San Joaquin soil was proposed by a group of eighth graders. The state tartan was the idea of the St. Andrew’s Society of Los Angeles, and it is based on the tartan of John Muir’s family. Surfing became the state sport in 2018, more than fifty years after the 1966 world championships in San Diego helped set the rules for international contests.

Firsts and oddities

California was the first state to name an official rock, choosing serpentine in 1965, and the first to name an official lichen, in 2015. It names four state nuts at once (the almond, walnut, pistachio and pecan) and two state ghost towns: Bodie, for the gold rush, and Calico, for silver. It has a state fabric, denim, a nod to the riveted work trousers patented in San Francisco in 1873. And it still has an official historical society that no longer exists: the California Historical Society dissolved in 2025, but the law naming it has not changed.

Animals that are gone or in trouble

The bear on the flag is the most striking case. The California grizzly became the state animal in 1953, about thirty years after the last known one was seen. Several newer symbols were chosen partly to draw attention to animals that are in danger now. The black abalone, the state seashell since 2024, is federally endangered after disease and overharvesting. The California red-legged frog, the giant garter snake and the desert tortoise are all protected species, and the giant garter snake, added in 2025, lives nowhere outside the wetlands and rice fields of the Central Valley.

The pages for the big four

The state flag, the state bird and the state flower each have their own page, with their history and how to recognize them. The California overview covers the capital, the motto and the state’s history.

1 1840s 1870s 1 1900s 1 3 1930s 1 5 4 1960s 5 3 5 1990s 6 10 7 2020s
Official symbols adopted per decade. The busiest decade was the 2010s, with ten.

Flag, seal, song, motto and nickname

Animals

Plants and fungi

Earth and sky

Food and drink

Culture and history

Government emblems

Places and institutions

Questions about California's symbols

What is the California state animal?
The California grizzly bear, adopted in 1953. It is also the bear on the state flag, although the California grizzly was hunted to extinction by the 1920s.
What are California's state bird, flower and tree?
The bird is the California quail (1931), the flower is the California poppy (1903), and the tree is the California redwood, a title shared by the coast redwood and the giant sequoia.
Does California have a state fruit?
Not by law. The avocado and the artichoke are often listed as California's state fruit and vegetable, but they were named in a 2013 proclamation by an acting governor, not by the Legislature, so they are not on this list.
How does something become a California state symbol?
Almost always by a bill passed by the Legislature and signed by the governor, which adds it to the state emblems chapter of the Government Code. A few, such as the golden trout and the shelter pet, were named by legislative resolution instead.
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