StatesFacts
Menu

All 50 states

Nevada state symbols

Nevada has 26 official state symbols, most of them written into Chapter 235 of the Nevada Revised Statutes. The oldest are the Great Seal and the motto "All for Our Country," both from 1866; the newest is the Picon Punch, the state drink since 2025. Many recall the state's mining history, from silver, the state metal, to the black fire opal of the Virgin Valley.

26 official designations · every law checked October 23, 2026

Seal, flag and song

Nevada’s Great Seal and its motto, “All for Our Country,” date from 1866. The seal shows a quartz mill and a mine tunnel, a plow, a train and telegraph line, and snowy peaks under a rising sun, ringed by 36 stars for the 36th state. Its use is tightly limited by law. The flag followed in 1929, and “Home Means Nevada” became the state song in 1933. Silver and blue were named the state colors in 1983.

Trees, sage and grass

The single-leaf piñon became the state tree in 1953. It is the only pine in North America whose needles grow one at a time instead of in bundles, and its nuts were a staple food for the Native peoples of the Great Basin. In 1987 the Legislature added a second state tree, the Great Basin bristlecone pine, one of the longest-lived organisms on Earth. Sagebrush, which covers much of the state, has been in the law as the state flower since 1959, and Indian ricegrass, whose seeds fed Native peoples, wildlife and livestock, became the state grass in 1977.

Wildlife

The desert bighorn sheep has been the state animal since 1973. In 2001 a bill to add the mustang as a second state animal died after Senator Bill Raggio warned that the state would end up with a zoo. The Lahontan cutthroat trout, the state fish since 1981, has a complicated history: the original trout of Pyramid Lake died out in the 1940s after Derby Dam cut off their spawning runs, and the lake has been restocked since the 1970s, since 2006 with the Pilot Peak strain, descended from the original Pyramid Lake fish. The desert tortoise followed in 1989 and the vivid dancer damselfly, whose males are bright blue and females tan, in 2009.

Minerals and gems

Mining runs through Nevada’s symbols. Silver became the state metal in 1977, the same year the ichthyosaur Shonisaurus, an extinct marine reptile, became the state fossil. In 1987 the Legislature named three more: the Virgin Valley black fire opal as precious gemstone, pushed by Harry and Joy Wilson of the Royal Peacock Opal Mine near Denio, who brought stones to the Legislature; Nevada turquoise as semiprecious gemstone; and sandstone, seen in the red formations of Valley of Fire State Park, as state rock. The Orovada series became the state soil in 2001.

History, music and neon

Some symbols reach far back. The state artifact, adopted in 1995, is the tule duck decoy, inspired by eleven decoys more than 2,000 years old found in Lovelock Cave in 1924. Nevada Northern Railway Engine No. 40, a steam engine built in 1910 that ran between Ely and Cobre until 1941, became the state locomotive in 2009 and still runs on its original line. In 2001 the Legislature added a state march, “Silver State Fanfare,” written by the band director Gerald Willis for a Reno high school band performing at the 1997 presidential inauguration, and a state tartan, whose 64 small boxes stand for 1864, the year of statehood.

The newest symbols are modern. Students at a Carson City Montessori school and their teacher, Will Durham, persuaded the Legislature to make neon the state element in 2019, citing signs such as the Reno Arch and the “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign. And in 2025 the Picon Punch, a drink tied to the state’s Basque heritage, became the state drink, through a bill that also made liquor to-go permanent.

2 1860s 1880s 1900s 1 1920s 1 1940s 2 1 1960s 4 7 1980s 1 5 2000s 1 1 2020s
Official symbols adopted per decade. The busiest decade was the 1980s, with seven.

Flag, seal, song, motto and nickname

Animals

Plants and fungi

Earth and sky

Food and drink

Songs, words and language

Culture and history

Questions about Nevada's symbols

What is the Nevada state flower?
Sagebrush, a gray-green shrub with tiny yellow flowers. The law names Artemisia tridentata or trifida.
What is the Nevada state bird?
The mountain bluebird, adopted in 1967. Idaho chose it in 1931.
Does Nevada have two state trees?
Yes. The single-leaf piñon became the state tree in 1953, and the Great Basin bristlecone pine was added in 1987.
What is Nevada's state element?
Neon, adopted in 2019 after a campaign by students at a Carson City Montessori school. Supporters tied it to Nevada's famous neon signs.
What is the state drink of Nevada?
The Picon Punch, a drink tied to Nevada's Basque heritage, adopted in 2025.
Photo credits (7)

Something out of date? Tell us and we will check it against the law.

Sources