STATE FLOWER
Alaska's State Flower: Forget-Me-Not
Alaska adopted the forget-me-not (Myosotis alpestris) as its state flower in 1949, a decade before statehood — a small blue bloom that holds its own against a vast landscape.
A Hardy Alpine Bloom
The genus Myosotis includes roughly 50 species, most with small blue, pink, or white flowers marked by a contrasting yellow center. Alaska's forget-me-not is an alpine variety, well suited to the short growing season and cool summers of the far north, and it was chosen in part for its resilience — pushing through rocky, thin soil where little else takes hold.
QUICK FACT
The forget-me-not was chosen years before Alaska became the 49th state, and it also appears on the Alaska Territorial Gold Rush commemorative medals from the 1930s.
