Symbols of the great state of North Carolina:
- State bird:
- Cardinal
Now, that's original.
- State tree:
- Pine
- State flower:
- Dogwood
...which, technically, is also a tree. Don't tell anyone.
- State vegetable:
- Sweet potato
Just kidding. It's actually tobacco.
- State nickname and state song:
- "The Old North State"
Strange sense of humour? Strange sense of geography? Just because you're north of South Carolina doesn't mean you're north.
- State motto:
- Esse quam videre ("To be rather than to seem")
Runners-up: "Tobacco is a vegetable!" & "Been south so long it feels like north to me."
- State insect:
- Honeybee
State legislators leave no detail unseen to, no matter how small...
- State shell:
- Scotch bonnet
...or obscure...
- State mineral:
- Granite
...or boring.
- State dog:
- Plott hound
- State mammal:
- Grey squirrel
N.B.: The state dog is not the state mammal. Homo sapiens is not the state mammal. The state mammal is a bushy-tailed rodent that hoards acorns.
- State drink:
- Milk
Rumour has it that this was pushed through the legislature by a coalition of schoolteachers and dairy farmers, over the strenuous objections of factions favouring the more obvious choices: Cheerwine, sweet tea, a bottle of cola with a bag of peanuts poured into it, etc.
And, as of 2001:
- State blue berry:
- Blueberry
That's right, folks. The official blue berry of North Carolina is the blueberry. Tautologies being what they are, you might well ask, "Why didn't they just make the blueberry the state berry?" That's because:
- State red berry:
- Strawberry
Yup. One state berry is not enough for these people.
Since the colours of the state flag are the ever-popular red, white, and blue, I briefly wondered whether NC might not also have a State White Berry (maybe mistletoe?). But no, the state legislators showed themselves to be models of restraint in this instance.
Source: Most of this information (and the attendant snarky comments) got dredged up from my own memory, but see also http://www.netstate.com/states/symb/nc_symb.htm for confirmation and more fun state symbols.