It’s like historian Jack Maguire once wrote: the bluebonnet is “a kind of floral trademark almost as well known to outsiders as cowboy boots and the Stetson hat… The bluebonnet is to Texas what the shamrock is to Ireland, the cherry blossom to Japan, the lily to France, the rose to England and the tulip to Holland.” If that legend is any indication, the bluebonnet is rooted in Texas’ very identity, intertwined with themes like Texans’ characteristic stubborn independence and heart. They ask their grandmother why the flowers are colored differently than the rest and she answers wisely that the white flower represents the Lone Star on the Texas flag and that the pink flower grows in honor and remembrance of the brave soldiers who gave their lives for Texas independence at the Alamo. “If the white ones are special, then the pink ones mean even more,” she said. You can read the full myth here, but the summarized version goes like this:Īs two young children play in a field of wildflowers just outside of San Antonio, one of them spots a white bluebonnet and the other notices a pink bluebonnet amidst all of the standard blue blooms.

One particular legend, “The Legend of the Pink Bluebonnet,” is recorded online by TAMU. Native Americans and Spanish settlers revered the bluebonnet among all of Texas’ wildflowers and as a result, bluebonnets were often featured in folklore. Photo: Flickr user Theodore Scott, CC licensedĪnd probably more than one.

The legend of the bluebonnet