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Texas state symbols

Texas has 80 official state symbols, one of the longest lists in the country. The bluebonnet, adopted in 1901, was the first; the newest include the Texas Almanac as state book and the cannon as state gun, both in 2025. Most were adopted by concurrent resolution rather than by law, and the Texas State Library is required by statute to keep the official list.

80 official designations · every law checked October 23, 2026

Bluebonnet, mockingbird and pecan

The bluebonnet became the first Texas state symbol on March 7, 1901, when the Legislature chose the species Lupinus subcarnosus; in 1971 it widened the designation to include Lupinus texensis and any other bluebonnet found in the state. The pecan became the state tree in 1919, and Texas law still makes it a misdemeanor to knock pecans out of a tree on someone else’s land without written permission. In 1927, at the request of the Texas Federation of Women’s Clubs, the Legislature named the mockingbird the state bird.

Longhorns and armadillos

Texas named two state mammals in 1995, after a mock election in which hundreds of elementary schoolchildren voted: the longhorn as the large mammal and the nine-banded armadillo as the small one. The resolution recalls that some 10 million longhorns were driven out of Texas to markets in the quarter century after the Civil War. The armadillo had been turned down as state mammal in the late 1970s and was proclaimed the state mascot in 1981 before winning its title. The Mexican free-tailed bat became the state flying mammal the same year, and the monarch the state insect.

Other animals followed. The Texas horned lizard, often called a horned toad, is the state reptile; the Guadalupe bass the state fish and the red drum the state saltwater fish; the Blue Lacy the state dog and the American Quarter Horse the state horse. The Kemp’s ridley, the smallest of the world’s sea turtles, whose females nest in mass arrivals called arribadas, became the state sea turtle in 2013; it is still listed as endangered. Paluxysaurus jonesi, from the Jones Ranch site in Hood County, replaced Pleurocoelus as state dinosaur in 2009, though paleontologists now generally treat it as the same animal as Sauroposeidon.

Food

Texas eats well by resolution. Chili has been the state dish since 1977. The list also includes the Texas red grapefruit, the jalapeño and the native chiltepin pepper, the Texas sweet onion, tortilla chips and salsa as the state snack, pan de campo as the state bread, and peach cobbler and pecan pie, both named in 2013. The pecan, already the state tree, became the state health nut in 2001. For a while Texas had two official state pastries, the sopaipilla and the strudel, but that designation expired in 2005.

Cowboys and the frontier

Many symbols celebrate the cattle trail and the frontier: the cowboy boot as the state footwear, the cowboy hat, the chuck wagon as the state vehicle, the cast-iron Dutch oven, rodeo as the state sport, the square dance and the Bowie knife. The 1847 Colt Walker pistol became the state handgun in 2021, and in 2025 the cannon became the state gun, recalling the 1835 Battle of Gonzales, fought over a cannon, and the Twin Sisters cannons at San Jacinto.

Music, games and more

The guitar became the state instrument in 1997, and western swing the state music in 2011. Texas has an official domino game, 42, official state plays performed at Galveston Island and Palo Duro Canyon state parks, and, since 2015, three official hashtags. Stones and gems include petrified palmwood, the state stone, Texas blue topaz, the state gem, and the Lone Star Cut, the state gemstone cut. The Battleship Texas is the state ship, the Elissa the state tall ship, and the Texas Almanac, first published by The Galveston News in 1857, became the state book in 2025.

1 1830s 1 1860s 1890s 1 1 2 1920s 2 1950s 4 4 6 1980s 19 17 17 2010s 5 2020s
Official symbols adopted per decade. The busiest decade was the 1990s, 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

Places and institutions

Questions about Texas's symbols

What is the Texas state flower?
The bluebonnet, adopted in 1901, the first official Texas state symbol. A 1971 resolution extended it to Lupinus texensis and every other bluebonnet found in Texas.
What is the Texas state mammal?
Texas has two. The Texas longhorn is the large state mammal and the nine-banded armadillo the small state mammal, both named in 1995. The Mexican free-tailed bat is the state flying mammal.
What is the Texas state dish?
Chili, adopted in 1977.
Does Texas have official hashtags?
Yes, since 2015: #Texas for the state, #TexasToDo for tourism and #txlege for the Legislature.
Is it illegal to knock pecans off a tree in Texas?
Only if the tree is on someone else's land. State law makes it a misdemeanor to make pecans fall from a tree on land you do not own without written permission.
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