Passion flower; photo by Paula Bailey on Flickr (noncommercial use permitted with attribution / share alike).
Official State Wildflower of Tennessee
Tennessee recognized the exotic passion flower (Passiflora incarnata) as the official state flower in 1919 (chosen by the schoolchildren of Tennessee). But in 1933, Senate Joint Resolution 53 designated the iris as "the State Flower of Tennessee." In 1973 legislation was passed that distinguished the iris as the "state cultivated flower" and the passion flower as the "state wildflower." In 2012 a second wildflower was adopted as a symbol of Tennessee: the unique Tennessee coneflower. All State Flowers
Passion Flower Facts
Also known as the maypop, wild apricot, and the ocoee, passion flowers (genus Passiflora) grow wild in the southern United States and South America. Ocoee is the Indian name for the passion flower (also used in the name of the Ocoee River and Valley in Tennessee and the city of Ocoee in Florida). Native Americans considered ocoee the most beautiful of flowers.
