STATE FLOWER
Minnesota's State Flower: Pink and White Lady's Slipper
Minnesota's state flower is the pink and white lady's slipper (Cypripedium reginae) — a native orchid that only reached its correct scientific identity after an early mistake.
A Mid-Course Correction
Following the trend set by the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, Minnesota's legislature initially designated Cypripedium calceolus as the lady's slipper state flower — only to discover that species wasn't actually found in Minnesota. Lawmakers corrected the error, replacing it with Cypripedium reginae, a lady's slipper genuinely native to the state's bogs and wet woodlands.
QUICK FACT
Minnesota's lady's slipper is now protected by law, and it's illegal to pick or transplant it from the wild.
