Everybody knows that the Official State Bird of Ohio is the Cardinal because The Cardinals are the Major League Baseball team The Cardinals play out of … um .. St. Louis, Missori … well, darn – forget that.
Let me try again.
Everybody knows that the Official Tree of Ohio is the Buckeye because we created “buckeyes” – those treats we make by rolling peanut butter into a little ball then dipping it in milk chocolate, which we named “Buckeyes” because they kind of resemble the nuts from a buckeye tree.
Let me try yet again…
Ohio has lots of official symbols. Let’s take a look at some of them.
The State Tree of Ohio (Buckeye)
The official state tree of Ohio is The Buckeye Tree … or, ghd Aesculus glabra if you want to impress your Latin speaking science friends.
In 1953, The 100th General Assembly decreed that “the tree, Aesculus globra, commonly known as the ‘Buckeye’ is hereby adopted as the official tree of the state.” Except there was one small problem with that – most notably that nobody in that general assembly couldn’t tell glabra from globra, as some people like to point out, which means that technically the official Tree of Ohio doesn’t actually exist.
To be fair, some official documents spell the thing correctly, with the “a” rather than the “o” but even to this day, some documents have it correct, while others contain the spelling error. This could easily be fixed with some legislation, but apparently nobody wants to take the time or energy to correct a single letter.
Even before 1953, The Buckeye Tree was a noted symbol of Ohio as that particular tree only grows in Ohio (and Illinois, and Indiana, and Kentucky, and Tennessee, and Alabama, and Missouri, and Mississippi, and Georgia, and Montana, and Wisconsin, and Michigan, and southern Ontario, Canada).
So, yeah – it makes sense that the Buckeye is the official tree of Ohio.
The State Bird of Ohio (Cardinal)
The Cardinal is the State Bird of Ohio (and Illinois, and Indiana, and Kentucky, and North Carolina, and Virginia, and West Virginia). Delaware wanted it for their state bird, too – however then they found out about the Delaware Blue Hen and decided that one made more sense.
According to people who pay attention to birds, the Cardinal is not just one of the more common birds in this region, it once was once one of the more popular bird-pets on account of its colorful feathers, its mild temperament, and some people just love listening to them sing.
The State Flowers (Scarlet Carnation and Large White Trillium)
While most states have a single State Flower, Ohio (and a small collection of other states) have opted to have two. To the uninitiated (like me) a flower and a wildflower is pretty much the same thing, but according to others they are about as different as “Eggshell” and “Off-White” Paint buckets.
The Scarlet Carnation (as opposed to any other color, like Red, I guess) was chosen to honor William McKinley in 1904, a few short years after his assassination. McKinley often wore a scarlet carnation on his lapel, which he claimed was a symbol of luck (and McKinley was born in Ohio, so of course we should honor him.)
In 1982, the Native Plant Society of Northeastern Ohio got together and went about the business of nominating a wildflower to unseat the carnation as the State Flower. Part of their goal was to select a flower that was native to Ohio (and, it seems, one we wouldn’t have to share with a bunch of other states) and they came up with the Large White Trillium. This was chosen because it was one of the only wildflowers they knew about that could be found in all 88 counties and wasn’t on the endangered species list. They also appreciated that the wildflower was easily recognizable. State Representative Bob Clark sponsored the bill and a few months later, we had two official state flowers. Or, a state flower and a state wildflower, as if those were two completely different things.
The State Frog (Bullfrog)
Ever since 2010, the State Frog of Ohio was the Bullfrog, becuase, apparently there is more than one type of frog. Who knew?
The Bullfrog is believed to be the largest type of frog in all of North America and is known for having a deep, resonating voice that can be heard for a mile away.
Bullfrogs like to live near ponds, small lakes, and slow-moving bodies of water and for reasons known only to Frog-People, the best chance to see one is between late spring and mid-summer.
What is not known, however, is the effect that naming the Bullfrog as the state frog has had on restaurants that regularly serve “frog’s legs” on its menu.
The State Mammel (White-Tailed Deer)
Adopted in 1988, the State Mammel of Ohio is the White-Tailed Deer. This is the largest of the Game Animals found in Ohio and can be found in every county in the State, although the Eastern hilly counties have a higher percentage than any of the rest of the state. Then again, the White Tailed Deer is also the state mammal of Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and South Carolina as well as the Official Game Animal of Oklahoma (because they just have to be different, I guess) and The Wildlife Symbol of Wisconsin.
The White-Tailed Deer or Odocoileus virginianus played an important role throughout history. To the early settlers and the indiginous tribes before them, their meat was practically a staple of their diet, their skins were used for clothing, and their antlers were used to make tools.
The State Insect (Ladybug)
In 1975, the Senate Concurrent Resolution 14, 111th General Assembly designated the Ladybug as the official state insect of Ohio. It may also be one of the more confusing official state symbols.
There are, as it turns out, several species of Ladybug (or Lady Beetle) that are commonly found in Ohio, however the state never got around to specifying which one, exactly, it is. The closest we get to an answer is currently found on the Governor’s website, which states that whichever species it is, it’s native to Ohio.
That’s an important designation because there are those who try to falsely claim that the Seven Spotted Ladybeetle is the official symbol. The problem with that is that this species, while common these days around Ohio, it’s not native. In fact, it’s considered something of an invasive species.
So, we know the official state insect is the ladybug – we’re just not one hundred percent sure which one it is.
The State Fruit (Tomato and Pawpaw)
Ohio has two official state fruits, because of course we do.
The State Fruit of Ohio is the Tomato. Yes, a tomato is a fruit and not a vegetable, even when you put them in salads.
The State Fruit That Is Native to Ohio is the pawpaw.
In 1999, the Ohio Pawpaw Growers’ Association began sponsoring the Ohio Pawpaw festival which is currently held in the Lake Snowden area, where from what I hear there are a lot of Pawpaw trees.
Scientifically speaking, the Tomato is a fruit, so therefore it does qualify its status as Official State Fruit. Which brings us to…
The State Beverage (Tomato Juice)
The Official Beverage of Ohio is Tomato Juice. For the uninitiated, this is rather like a Bloody Mary without the Worcestershire Sauce, Tabasco, and a celery stick, but apparently people like to drink it anyway.
The State Amphibian (Spotted Salamander)
The State Amphibian , the Spotted Salamander, is one we share with South Carolina for some reason. This species, Ambystoma maculatum, is a type of mole salamander often spotted in the eastern states and Canada. They range in size typically from 6 to 10 inches long, with the female of the species usually being a bit larger than the male.
If you can’t remember ever seeing one of these, that’s probably to be expected as they like living underground and rarely come to the surface, except for after rains … and they tend to go dormant during the late spring and early summer months.
The State Reptile (Black Racer)
Since 1995, the State Reptile of Ohio is the Black Racer or Black Runner, a species (Coluber constrictor) of snake that is black or deep brown and is among the faster snakes out there, able to reach speeds of 8 to 10 miles per hour.
This snake is commonly located in the eastern part of the states, often in rocky fields and wetlands. People seem to like the Black Racer (if liking a snake is actually possible) because they dine on rats, rodents, and various insects that people seem to hate more than they hate snakes.
The State Groundhog (his name is Chuck)
Buckeye Chuck (his official name) lives in Cleveland at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and often comes out on that day named after a certain Bill Murray movie where he “predicts” the arrival of spring, which he claims he can do based on whether or not he can see his shadow.
In all fairness, though, over the past several years he’s been wrong more times than he’s been accurate … a lot more. Still, he’s fun to watch (you can check his Facebook page to view his predictions every year) and quite honestly Buckeye Chuck is a lot easier to spell than Punxsutawney Phil.
The State Gemstone (Ohio Flint)
Starting in 1965, the “Ohio Flint” has been recognized as the official gemstone of Ohio. I am hardly an expert, but from what I’ve learned, Flint is pretty much Flint and there is no scientific identifier of “Ohio Flint” except the fact that it was dug out of the ground here. Usually, though, Ohio Flint refers to the stuff dug from around the Flint Ridge area of Hopewell Township in Licking County, the site of an old native quarry that was, surprisingly, not named after a particularly notorious Ohioan with the first name of Larry as it predated his birth by a few thousand years.
Flint, or flintstone (not the Fred and Wilma variety) is s type of quarts that was often used in making tools and making fires. It was widely traded by the native tribes and was, from what I hear, much desired from what today is Mexico to northern Canada.
The Official Song (Beautiful Ohio)
The song Beautiful Ohio was originally written in 1918 by Ballard MacDonald with music by composer Robert A. King and was partly based on Stephen Foster’s Beautiful Dreamer and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Song of India.
Originally, the song was more of a love story between two people who just happened to reside in the Beautiful state of Ohio, yet it was chosen in 1969 to be the official state song, probably because there were not that many songs with the word “Ohio” in the title. And, honestly, it was quite a lovely song.
Twenty years later the Ohio General Assembly passed a bill that allowed the song to get new lyrics written by Wilbert McBride. This new version of the song was less a love story between two people, and more a love song about the state of Ohio itself, mentioning things like “cities” and “factories” and “mountains”.
The Other Official (Rock) Song (Hang on Sloopy)
Ohio is the only state that seems to have both an Official Song and an Official Rock Song.
Oklahoma almost had one and probably would have had the band that performed the song not had Nazi ties and wore Nazi symbols. It didn’t help that some people thought the lyrics were offensive, too. The State of Washington kind of sort of has one, Richard Barry’s Louie Louie, but so far have not made that song official. So … that means that Ohio’s Official Rock Song, Hang on Sloopy first recorded by The Vibrations but written by Wes Farrell and Bert Berns.
The song has a bit of a unique history of being played by garage bands, at a variety of sporting events.
When played at OSU events, the crowd tends to sing O-H-I-O after the chorus.
There is a bit of a mystery associated with the song. Like … Who, exactly, was Sloopy?
One candidate, and perhaps the most likely, was a student at Ohio University in Athens who also happened to be a talented jazz singer from Steubenville named Dorothy Sloop. But this is far from having been proven.
