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Illinois state symbols

Illinois has 36 official state symbols. The oldest are the violet and the oak, chosen by schoolchildren in 1907 and 1908; the newest is the black-and-gold bumblebee, signed into law in 2026 and taking effect in 2027. Students proposed most of the list, and it includes some of the most unusual symbols of any state, from a fossil sea monster to a microbe.

36 official designations · every law checked October 23, 2026

Chosen by students

Illinois has let its schoolchildren choose its symbols for more than a century. In 1907 and 1908 children voted for the state flower and tree: the violet beat the wild rose and goldenrod, and “the oak” beat the maple and the elm. In 1928 a women’s club in Macomb proposed a children’s vote for a state bird, and the cardinal won. In 1973 a poll of about 900,000 children narrowed the tree to the white oak.

The tradition has continued. A third-grade class in Decatur proposed the monarch butterfly in 1974 and watched the governor sign the bill. Children chose the white-tailed deer in 1980 and the bluegill in 1986. A class in Joliet campaigned for popcorn as the state snack, a fourth-grade class picked the GoldRush apple as the state fruit, fourth graders in Chatham proposed sweet corn, and eighth graders in Wilmette championed the pirogue, a dugout canoe, as the state artifact. In 2026 eighth graders at Lincoln Junior High School in Naperville won a statewide student vote and testified before lawmakers for the black-and-gold bumblebee, which becomes the state bee on January 1, 2027.

Prairie and farm

Many symbols recall the prairie that once covered most of Illinois. Big bluestem, a grass that can grow taller than a person and whose seed head looks like a turkey’s foot, became the state grass in 1989. Milkweed, the food of monarch caterpillars, became the state wildflower in 2017. The state soil, Drummer silty clay loam, formed under prairie and covers more than 1.5 million acres, almost half of Illinois’s counties.

The farm is well represented too. Corn, which makes up more than half the value of the state’s farm products, is the state grain; sweet corn is the state vegetable, popcorn the snack and the soybean the state bean. Pumpkin pie is the official state pie, because Illinois, around Morton, grows most of the pumpkins eaten in the United States.

A sea monster and a mold

Two symbols stand out. The state fossil is the Tully monster, Tullimonstrum gregarium. Its first fossil was found by an amateur collector, Francis Tully, who took it to Chicago’s Field Museum, where nobody could identify it. It was a soft-bodied sea animal about 300 million years old, and its fossils come almost entirely from the Mazon Creek deposits in Will and Grundy counties.

The state microbe is a single strain of mold, Penicillium rubens NRRL 1951. During World War II, researchers at the federal laboratory in Peoria searched for a mold that could produce penicillin in large amounts. A lab worker, Mary K. Hunt, known as “Moldy Mary,” brought in a moldy cantaloupe from a Peoria market, and its mold turned out to produce far more penicillin than earlier cultures. It made mass production possible. Illinois adopted it in 2021.

Rocks and minerals

Fluorite, adopted in 1965, recalls the mines around Rosiclare and Cave-in-Rock in southern Illinois, which once made the state the country’s top producer. Dolostone, a rock made mostly of the mineral dolomite, became the state rock in 2022, and the giant puffball the state mushroom in 2024.

The main symbols

The flag, the cardinal and the violet each have their own page. The state song, “Illinois,” dates from 1925.

1 1810s 1840s 1 1870s 1 1900s 1 2 1930s 1 1 1960s 2 4 1 1990s 5 8 7 2020s
Official symbols adopted per decade. The busiest decade was the 2010s, with eight.

Flag, seal, song, motto and nickname

Animals

Plants and fungi

Earth and sky

Food and drink

Songs, words and language

Culture and history

Places and institutions

Questions about Illinois's symbols

What is the Illinois state animal?
The white-tailed deer, chosen by schoolchildren in 1980 and made official from January 1, 1982.
What is the Tully monster?
The Illinois state fossil, a soft-bodied sea animal from about 300 million years ago with a long snout and eyes on a crossbar. It is known almost entirely from the Mazon Creek fossil beds in northeastern Illinois, and scientists still argue about what kind of animal it was.
Why does Illinois have a state microbe?
To honor Peoria's role in the history of penicillin. A strain of Penicillium mold found on a cantaloupe bought in Peoria produced far more penicillin than earlier cultures, making mass production possible during World War II.
What is the Illinois state snack?
Popcorn, adopted in 2003 after a class project by second and third graders in Joliet.
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