Missouri State Symbols

State Flower:  Hawthorn

State Tree:  Flowering Dogwood

State Fish:  Channel Catfish

State Tree Nut:  Eastern Black Walnut

State Animal:  Missouri Mule

State Aquatic Animal:  The Paddlefish

State Folk Dance:  Square Dance 

State Fossil:  Crinoid

State Insect:  The Honeybee

State Mineral:  Galena

State Rock:  Mozarkite

Motto:  The welfare of the people shall be the supreme law.

Origin of State Name:  The name is taken from the Missouri River and is an Algonquian name for a group that lived near the mouth of the river.

Nickname for State:  The Show Me State.  In 1899 Congressman Willard D. Vandiver said: "I come from a country that raises corn and cotton and cockleburs and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I'm from Missouri. You've got to show me."

Nickname for residents:  Missourians