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Wyoming state symbols

Wyoming has 22 official state symbols, all set out in Title 8 of the Wyoming Statutes. The oldest is the Great Seal of 1893; the flag and the Indian paintbrush followed on the same day in 1917, and the newest, the blotched tiger salamander, was named in 2019. Wyoming's list includes some unusual entries: a state code of conduct, the Code of the West, a state coin, and a state dinosaur chosen by election.

22 official designations · every law checked October 23, 2026

Flag, flower and bird

Wyoming’s first symbols came from a campaign by the Wyoming Daughters of the American Revolution under Grace Raymond Hebard to give the state both a flag and a flower. On January 31, 1917, both became law: the bison flag and the Indian paintbrush, whose showy red color comes from its bracts rather than its small true flowers. The western meadowlark became the state bird in 1927, and the plains cottonwood the state tree in 1947.

Wildlife and fossils

The American bison, the centerpiece of the flag since 1917, became the state mammal in 1985. In 1987 the Legislature named the cutthroat trout, named for the orange-red mark under its jaw, the state fish and Knightia, an extinct schooling fish found by the thousands in the Green River Formation, the state fossil. The short-horned lizard, or horned toad, followed as state reptile in 1993, and in 1994 Triceratops became the state dinosaur, chosen by an election rather than written into the law. Sheridan’s green hairstreak, the earliest butterfly to emerge in Wyoming each spring, often while snow is still melting, became the state butterfly in 2009, and the blotched tiger salamander, one of North America’s largest salamanders, the state amphibian in 2019.

Stone, grass and sage

Jade, of the nephrite variety, became the state gemstone in 1967. Western wheatgrass, a native grass valued as forage and for controlling erosion, became the state grass in 2007, and Wyoming big sagebrush, proposed by the advanced biology class at Hulett High School, the state shrub in 2016.

Cowboys and a coin

Rodeo became the state sport in 2003. In 2004 Wyoming named the Sacagawea golden dollar its state coin; Sacagawea, the Shoshone woman who aided the Lewis and Clark expedition, is honored with a grave site at Lander. In 2010 the Legislature adopted the Code of the West, ten principles from James P. Owen’s book Cowboy Ethics, among them “Ride for the brand,” “Talk less, say more” and “Know where to draw the line.”

The Bucking Horse and Rider

Wyoming’s best-known image is not a designated symbol but a state trademark. The Bucking Horse and Rider was used by 1918 as an insignia of Wyoming National Guard units serving in France and Germany in World War I, designed by First Sergeant George N. Ostrom. Secretary of State Lester Hunt had the artist Allen T. True draw a bucking horse and rider for new license plates meant to foil counterfeiters, which debuted in 1936, the year the state copyrighted the mark. Today it is a registered trademark licensed jointly by the state and the University of Wyoming.

1 1890s 2 1910s 1 1 1930s 1 2 1950s 1 1970s 3 2 1990s 4 3 2010s
Official symbols adopted per decade. The busiest decade was the 2000s, with four.

Flag, seal, song, motto and nickname

Animals

Plants and fungi

Earth and sky

Culture and history

Government emblems

Questions about Wyoming's symbols

What is the Wyoming state mammal?
The American bison, adopted in 1985. A white bison has been the centerpiece of the state flag since 1917.
What is the Wyoming state dinosaur?
Triceratops. Unusually, the law does not name it; it says the state dinosaur is chosen by an election and the result filed with the secretary of state.
What is the Code of the West?
Wyoming's official state code, adopted in 2010: ten principles such as "Ride for the brand" and "Talk less, say more," drawn from James P. Owen's book Cowboy Ethics.
What is the Wyoming state gemstone?
Jade, the nephrite variety, adopted in 1967.
What is the Wyoming state fossil?
Knightia, an extinct schooling fish found in great numbers in the Green River Formation of southwestern Wyoming.
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