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New York state symbols

New York has 24 official state symbols, most of them listed in Article 6 of the State Law. The oldest are the state arms and the motto "Excelsior," from 1778; the newest is baseball, the state sport since 2021, proposed by fourth graders in Cooperstown. Two sections of the law share the number 87, one for the state reptile and one for the state bush.

24 official designations · every law checked October 23, 2026

Arms and emblems

New York’s oldest emblems are its coat of arms and motto, Excelsior, adopted on March 16, 1778. The arms show the sun rising behind three mountains over a river with two sailing vessels, supported by Liberty and Justice, and they appear on the flag, adopted in its current blue form in 1901, and on the Great Seal.

Flowers, trees and birds

The rose became the state flower in 1955, in every color or mix of colors common to it, wild or cultivated; schoolchildren had ranked it their favorite flower in a poll as early as 1891. The sugar maple, the source of maple syrup, became the state tree in 1956. The eastern bluebird, whose numbers had dropped sharply by the 1950s before recovering with the help of nest boxes along fence rows, became the state bird in 1970, signed into law by Governor Nelson Rockefeller. In 2006 the lilac was named the state bush.

Animals and fossils

The American beaver became the state animal in 1975, a reminder that demand for beaver pelts in Europe drew fur traders to settle near present-day Albany in the early 1600s. The brook trout became the state fish the same year, and in 2006 it became the freshwater fish when the striped bass was named the saltwater fish. The bay scallop, named for shallow Long Island bays such as the Peconic, Gardiners and Shinnecock bays, is the state shell, and the nine-spotted lady beetle, now rare in the wild in New York, the state insect. Elementary school children picked the common snapping turtle as state reptile in a popular vote before the Legislature made it official in 2006.

The state fossil, adopted in 1984, is Eurypterus remipes, a sea scorpion that lived more than 400 million years ago, in the Silurian period, in a shallow, brackish sea that stretched roughly along the route of today’s New York State Thruway. Garnet, both a gem and an industrial abrasive, became the state gem in 1969; the State Library calls the Barton Mines in the Adirondacks the largest garnet mine in the world.

Apples and dairy

European settlers brought apple seeds to New York in the 1600s, and the apple became the state fruit in 1976. Students around the state campaigned for the apple muffin, named the state muffin in 1987. Dairy farming is the largest part of upstate New York’s farm economy, which explains milk, the state beverage since 1981, and yogurt, the state snack since 2014.

Dogs, songs and baseball

New York’s state dog, named in 2015, is not a breed at all but any working dog: guide, police, war, hearing, service, search, therapy and detection dogs, along with dogs that herd or guard livestock or control wildlife. In 2018 the Legislature named “Here Rests in Honored Glory,” by Dr. Donald B. Miller, based on the inscription on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the state hymn of remembrance. The “I Love New York” slogan and heart logo, designed by Milton Glaser for a 1977 tourism campaign, became official in 2009. And in 2021 baseball became the state sport, at the suggestion of a fourth-grade class at Cooperstown Elementary School.

1 1770s 1800s 1830s 1860s 1 1890s 1 1920s 2 1950s 1 4 6 1980s 4 3 2010s 1 2020s
Official symbols adopted per decade. The busiest decade was the 1980s, with six.

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 New York's symbols

What is the New York state bird?
The eastern bluebird, adopted in 1970.
What is the New York state flower?
The rose, in any color, wild or cultivated, adopted in 1955.
What is the New York state dog?
Not a breed but any working dog, such as guide, police, service, search, therapy or herding dogs. The law dates from 2015 and was widened in 2016.
What is the New York state fossil?
Eurypterus remipes, a sea scorpion that lived more than 400 million years ago in a shallow sea that stretched roughly along the route of today's New York State Thruway.
What is the official sport of New York?
Baseball, adopted in 2021 after a fourth-grade class at Cooperstown Elementary School noticed the state had none.
Photo credits (10)

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