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Oregon state symbols

Oregon has 34 official state symbols. The oldest are the seal of 1859 and the Oregon grape, the state flower since 1899; the newest is the T-bone steak, named in 2025. Most were adopted by legislative resolution, and one, the western meadowlark, was chosen by schoolchildren and proclaimed by the governor in 1927, the only Oregon emblem not originally picked by lawmakers.

34 official designations · every law checked October 23, 2026

Grape, bird and tree

The Oregon Horticultural Society proposed the Oregon grape at its 1892 convention, and the Legislature adopted it as the state flower by resolution in 1899. In 1927 Oregon schoolchildren voted for the western meadowlark in a poll organized by the Oregon Audubon Society, and Governor Isaac Patterson proclaimed their choice that July; the Legislature formally named it the state songbird only in 2017, in the same resolution that made the osprey the state raptor. The Douglas-fir, requested by the Daughters of the American Revolution, became the state tree in 1939. It is named for the Scottish botanist David Douglas, who traveled in Oregon in the 1820s, and despite its name it is not a true fir.

Fish, beaver and butterfly

The Chinook salmon, the largest Pacific salmon, became the state fish in 1961; many Oregon Chinook runs are now listed as threatened or endangered because of overfishing, dams and habitat loss. The beaver became the state animal in 1969. The Oregon swallowtail, a yellow-and-black butterfly of the sagebrush canyons of the Columbia River system, became the state insect in 1979, after a rain beetle proposed in 1977 was rejected because it damages orchards. The Dungeness crab, the basis of Oregon’s most valuable single-species fishery, became the state crustacean in 2009, after fourth graders in West Linn lobbied for it.

Stones, soil and a fossil

Rockhounds chose the thunderegg in a poll promoted by the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, and it became the state rock in 1965. Plain on the outside, these nodules hide agate, jasper or opal inside, and most are found in Crook, Jefferson, Malheur, Wasco and Wheeler counties. The Oregon sunstone, a transparent, often colorful feldspar, became the state gemstone in 1987; the public may collect sunstones near Plush in Lake County. Jory soil, a deep, brick-red soil weathered from old volcanic rock that covers more than 300,000 acres of western Oregon hillsides, became the state soil in 2011. Oregon was the last western state to name a state fossil, choosing the dawn redwood, Metasequoia, in 2005.

Food and drink

Oregon’s food symbols say a lot about its farms. Students from Tillamook County asked lawmakers to honor milk, the state beverage since 1997. The hazelnut, long called the filbert in Oregon, became the state nut in 1989; Oregon grows about 99 percent of the US commercial crop. The pear, the state’s top-selling tree fruit, followed in 2005, and marionberry pie in 2017; the marionberry came from a 1950s blackberry breeding program and is named for Marion County, where it was tested. The Pacific golden chanterelle became the state mushroom in 1999, and brewer’s yeast, which leavens bread and ferments beer, the state microbe in 2013. The potato won out over the onion as state vegetable in 2023, with supporters citing the tater tot, invented in Ontario, Oregon, in 1953, and the T-bone became the state steak in 2025.

People and pageants

Two pioneers hold honorary titles. Dr. John McLoughlin, the Hudson’s Bay Company chief factor at Fort Vancouver who aided many early American settlers, was named the Father of Oregon in 1957, and Tabitha Moffatt Brown, who crossed to Oregon at 66 and started a school for orphans that grew into Pacific University, the Mother of Oregon in 1987. The Champoeg Historical Pageant is the official pageant of statehood, and Pendleton’s Happy Canyon Indian Pageant and Wild West Show, staged by tribal members and local volunteers, the official outdoor pageant. The state square dance, the Oregon tartan and the state pet, rescued shelter dogs and cats, round out the list.

1 1850s 1870s 1 1890s 1910s 3 1 1930s 2 1950s 3 2 1970s 6 2 1990s 3 7 2010s 3 2020s
Official symbols adopted per decade. The busiest decade was the 2010s, with seven.

Flag, seal, song, motto and nickname

Animals

Plants and fungi

Earth and sky

Food and drink

Culture and history

Places and institutions

Questions about Oregon's symbols

What is the Oregon state flower?
The Oregon grape, an evergreen, holly-like shrub with yellow flowers and dark blue berries, adopted in 1899.
What is the Oregon state rock?
The thunderegg, a plain-looking stone nodule that hides patterns of agate, jasper or opal inside, adopted in 1965 after a poll of rockhounds.
What is the Oregon state nut?
The hazelnut, adopted in 1989. Oregon grows about 99 percent of the US commercial crop.
Does Oregon have a state microbe?
Yes, brewer's yeast, adopted in 2013, reflecting Oregon's prominence in craft brewing.
What is the Oregon state fossil?
Metasequoia, the dawn redwood, adopted in 2005. It died out in Oregon about 5 million years ago but survives in China.
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