Violets; photo by Miria Grunick on Flickr (noncommercial use permitted with attribution / share alike).
Official State Flower of Rhode Island
Rhode Island was the last state to adopt an official state flower. Although the delicate, beautiful violet (viola sororia) was voted as the state flower by Rhode Island's school children in 1897, the flower was not officially adopted by the state legislature until 1968. All State Flowers
There are 400-500 species of violet (viola) distributed around the world, most in the temperate northern hemisphere. Illinois and New Jersey also adopted the diminutive violet as their state flower symbol.
