StatesFacts
Menu

All 50 states

South Carolina state symbols

South Carolina has 59 official state symbols, one of the longest lists in the country. The oldest are the Great Seal of 1776 and the flag of 1861; the newest, from 2026, include a state migratory bird, the prothonotary warbler, and a third official state song. Most are written into Title 1, Chapter 1 of the South Carolina Code.

59 official designations · every law checked October 23, 2026

Bird, flower and tree

South Carolina’s flower came first among its natural symbols. A legislative commission named in 1923 recommended the yellow jessamine because it grows in every part of the state and is one of the first signs of spring, and the General Assembly adopted it on February 1, 1924. The sabal palmetto, recalling the palmetto-log fort of 1776, became the state tree in 1939. The mockingbird was the first state bird, but a 1948 act replaced it with the Carolina wren. Later laws added the wild turkey as game bird, the wood duck, the eastern brown pelican as seabird in 2024, and the prothonotary warbler as migratory bird in 2026.

Wildlife

The white-tailed deer and the striped bass both became symbols in 1972; the Santee Cooper lakes were the original home of landlocked striped bass. A fifth-grade class from Ninety Six asked for the loggerhead sea turtle, the state reptile since 1988, which nests on South Carolina beaches. Third graders in Spartanburg campaigned for the spotted salamander, adopted in 1999. The Carolina mantis became the state insect in 1988, chosen as a native, beneficial insect that helps control crop pests, and the Carolina wolf spider, the largest wolf spider in North America, the state spider in 2000. In 2009 the Legislature named the bottlenose dolphin, the North Atlantic right whale, which visits the coast in its calving season, and the wood duck in a single act.

Dogs, horses and mules

The Boykin spaniel, the state dog since 1985, is the only breed first developed by South Carolinians, prized as both a hunting dog and a family pet. In 2010 the Marsh Tacky, a rare horse of colonial Spanish descent found only in South Carolina that carried people and loads in early Lowcountry communities, became the state heritage horse, and the mule the state heritage work animal.

From the ground

Amethyst became the state gemstone and blue granite the state stone in 1969; despite its name, the granite is gray and only looks bluish when polished. The Columbian mammoth became the state fossil in 2014: mammoth teeth dug from a South Carolina swamp in 1725 are credited as the first scientific identification of a North American vertebrate fossil. The lettered olive, named by the South Carolina naturalist Edmund Ravenel for markings that look like writing, is the state shell.

Food and drink

Peaches, grown commercially in South Carolina since the 1860s, became the state fruit in 1984, along with milk. Collard greens became the state vegetable in 2011 after a campaign started by a Lexington third grader. Boiled peanuts became the state snack food in 2006, and barbecue the state picnic cuisine in 2014. South Carolina grown tea is the state hospitality beverage; the Charleston Tea Plantation on Wadmalaw Island still grows plants descended from early South Carolina stock.

Music, dance and crafts

The shag, the state dance since 1984, and beach music, the state popular music since 2001, go together. The spiritual became the state music in 1999; spirituals were first written down on St. Helena Island during the Civil War. Porgy and Bess, set on Charleston’s fictional Catfish Row, is the state opera. The sweetgrass basket, a Lowcountry craft practiced for more than 300 years and among the oldest art forms of African origin in the United States, is the state Lowcountry handcraft. Indigo blue, the color of Colonel William Moultrie’s uniforms and the flag, became the state color in 2008 at a third grader’s suggestion, and the Carolina Tartan is shared with North Carolina.

1 1770s 1800s 1830s 1 1860s 1890s 1 1 1920s 1 1 1950s 3 3 8 1980s 7 19 7 2010s 5 2020s
Official symbols adopted per decade. The busiest decade was the 2000s, with 19.

Flag, seal, song, motto and nickname

Animals

Plants and fungi

Earth and sky

Food and drink

Songs, words and language

Culture and history

Government emblems

Places and institutions

Questions about South Carolina's symbols

What is the South Carolina state bird?
The Carolina wren, adopted in 1948 to replace the mockingbird, the first state bird.
What is the South Carolina state flower?
The yellow jessamine, adopted by the General Assembly on February 1, 1924. The state wildflower is goldenrod.
What is the South Carolina state dance?
The shag, adopted in 1984. The square dance is the state's American folk dance, and beach music, closely tied to the shag, is the state popular music.
What is the South Carolina state dog?
The Boykin spaniel, adopted in 1985, the only dog breed first developed by South Carolinians.
What is South Carolina's state snack?
Boiled peanuts, adopted in 2006.
Photo credits (14)

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

Sources