Home Sweet...oh, whatever

Trivia about my state comes up from time to time - especially when we are doing a Minnesota display at the library, or when state assignments are due in the local schools. State symbols often come up in the discussion.

And, I like to think that I know them when I see them. But, I have to see them in order to know that I know them when I see them. You follow?

State symbols I have seen in person, and know that I would know them when I saw them: the bird (loon), the photograph ("Grace"), the butterfly (Monarch), the drink (milk), the fish (walleye), the flag (blue flag with Minnesota seal on it...), the grain (wild rice), the muffin (blueberry), and the song ("Hail! Minnesota," but only because the words hail and Minnesota are in the song).

State symbols I have seen in person, but might need it to be labeled somehow: the fruit (honeycrisp apple - my palate is not sophisticated enough to distinguish it from other sweet apples), the gemstone (agates...they could look like something else if I saw one that wasn't along the north shore, maybe), and the mushroom (morel).

State symbols I have not seen in person, but am confident that I would recognize it anyway: the flower (ladyslipper). I mean, come on.

State symbols I have not seen in person, but thought I did: the tree (Norway pine).

Over the weekend, I was CERTAIN that the trees along the boardwalk on Madeline Island were norway, or red pines. The bark had a slight reddish tint to it, I swear, but when I looked at my photographs to prove it, I cannot honestly say that there are only two needles per cluster (a trait of the red pine), and the pine cone shape more closely resembles the white pine. The branches started much lower than 2/3 up the tree, which is another way to identify my state's pine. Also, the little shops on Madeline boast furniture and other wood work made from white pine.




Resources
Trees of Wisconsin: Red Pine and White Pine (University of Wisconsin Green Bay)
Leaf Tree ID Key (University of Wisconsin Stevens Point)