A long day’s drive from Phoenix, near the Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming, is a very special place.

Open fields, rugged mountains, crashing streams, and (in the early summer) wildflowers. Legend has it that an albino moose roams this area; at least that’s what we tell gullible friends upon their arrival to this special cabin in the woods.

For several summers now I’ve had the privilege to retreat here with a circle of friends. We hike, river raft, stay up late, and play cards. And yes, we always have our eye out for that elusive albino moose. One evening last summer, as the sun was setting and the girls were cooking dinner, I wandered across the street into the grassy field. As I ran my fingers along the waist-high green grasses, I spied a grouping of white lupine. The purple variety is delightful, but the white variety is quite special. And they were glowing.

I hollered back towards the cabin, “Hey girls, the white moose!” They didn’t hear me. And that’s OK. I had a moment alone in the grassy field, with the light just so, and gratitude in my heart.

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The tradition of choosing a state flower was the brainchild of the World’s Congress of Representative Women at the 1893 Chicago World Exposition. The ladies thought a bouquet of all the states’ flowers would be a beautiful symbol of unification. But it wasn’t until 1917 that Wyoming officially chose Castilleja Linariaefolia, commonly known as the Indian Paintbrush, as its official state flower.

Apparently the decision was not unanimous. Botanist and professor Aven Nelson rallied hard for a cactus bloom. “If the gentleman will entertain amendment to his motion I would offer a far more fitting flower—more common, more beautiful and more typical by far is the cactus bloom. Modest and unassuming, the offspring of a despised plant—and yet the glory of our arid domain during early summer, whose delicate tints put to shame the best efforts of the old masters and are only duplicated by the brush of Deity.”

He went on to argue, “True, we have flowers galore, from the flaunting goldenrod to the modest violet; but if we are to have an official flower let it be the cactus and none other, born of the desert yet an emblem of fertility; the floral diadem of nature’s garden; true type of that which grows and thrives and reaches full fruition in spite of blazing sun and an eternity of drought, and the death-dealing, life-destroying blizzard.”*

Other arguments were that there were too many varieties of Paintbrush, hard to identify; and in the end, why would Wyoming choose a parasitic plant, hellbent on robbing nutrients from nearby plants as a symbol of the freest state in the Union?

In the end the DAR and school children rallied, and the bill passed.

This artist thinks it was a good aesthetic choice. To me, they are like crimson flags of freedom against a rugged terrain.

*Sharidan Media, February 4, 2023