The Natural State.....WEST VIRGINIA

[olena]

State Flower

Rosebay Rhododendron
Rhododendron maximum
Rosebay, Great Laurel, White Laurel

Description Evergreen, thicket-forming shrub or tree with short, crooked trunk, broad, rounded crown of many stout, crooked branches, and large white blossoms.
Height: 20' (6 m).
Diameter: 6" (15 cm).
Leaves: evergreen; 4-10" (10-25 cm) long, 1-3" (2.5-7.5 cm) wide. Oblong or narrowly elliptical, short-pointed at both ends; thick and leathery with edges rolled under; short stout leafstalks. Shiny dark green above, whitish and covered with fine hairs beneath.
Bark: red-brown; scaly, thin.
Twigs: green with reddish gland-hairs, becoming reddish-brown and scaly; stout.
Flowers: 1 1/2" (4 cm) wide; bell-shaped corolla of 5 rounded lobes; waxy white or sometimes light pink (rarely reddish); the largest or upper lobe with many green spots; in upright, branched, rounded clusters; in summer.
Fruit: 1/2" (12 mm) long; long-stalked, narrowly egg-shaped capsule; dark reddish-brown, with gland-hairs; 5-celled and splitting open along 5 lines; many seeds; maturing in autumn and remaining attached.
Habitat Moist soils, especially along streams in understory of mountain forests, forming dense thickets.
Range Maine southwest to W. New York and south, mostly in mountains, to N. Georgia; to 6000' (1829 m) in southern Appalachians.
Discussion Rosebay Rhododendron is abundant in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Often grown as an ornamental, it is one of the hardiest and largest evergreen rhododendrons. The wood is occasionally used for tool handles, and a home remedy has been prepared from the leaves.

 

[olena]

State Animal

Black Bear
Ursus americanus

Description In the East, nearly black; in the West, black to cinnamon, with white blaze on chest. A "blue" phase occurs near Yakutat Bay, Alaska, and a nearly white population on Gribble Island, British Columbia, and the neighboring mainland. Snout tan or grizzled; in profile straight or slightly convex. 3 pairs of upper incisors equal in size. Male much larger than female. Ht 3–3' 5" (90–105 cm); L 4' 6"–6' 2"(137–188 cm); T 3–7" (7.7–17.7 cm); HF 9–14 5/8" (23–37 cm); Wt 203–587 lb (92–267 kg).
Endangered Status The Louisiana Black Bear, a subspecies of the Black Bear, is on the U.S. Endangered Species List. It is classified as threatened in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. Numbers of this bear apparently held steady until European settlement and its attendant population explosion and large-scale habitat alteration. Black Bears were heavily hunted and their woodland habitats were logged and converted to farmland. The Louisiana Black Bear today survives primarily along the Tensas and Atchafalaya River basins in Louisiana, although it wanders farther afield. A recent threat to the Black Bear has been illegal killing and the export of its gall bladders to Asia.
Similar Species Grizzly Bear is usually larger, and has generally somewhat concave facial profile, muscular hump above shoulder region, longer foreclaws, and outer pair of upper incisors much larger than 2 inner pairs.
Breeding Mates June–early July; litter of 1–5 (usually 2) young born January–early February; birth weight not much over 7 oz (200 g).
Habitat In East, primarily forests and swamps; in West, forests and wooded mountains.
Range Most of Alaska southeastward through Canada to n Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan, and Maritimes south through New England, New York, Pennsylvania, and Appalachian Mountains to Florida; south on West Coast through n California; Rocky Mountain states to Mexico. Also in Arkansas and se Oklahoma.
Discussion This uniquely North American bear may be seen at any time, day or night. It occupies a range usually of 10 square miles (20–25 sq km), although sometimes up to 15 square miles (40 sq km). The home range of the male is about double the size of that of the female. The Black Bear typically walks with a shuffling gait, but in its bounding trot it attains surprising speed, with bursts up to 30 mph (50 km/h). A powerful swimmer, it also climbs trees, either for protection or food. Although this animal is in the order Carnivora, most of its diet consists of vegetation, including twigs, buds, leaves, nuts, roots, fruit, corn, berries, and newly sprouted plants. In spring, the bear peels off tree bark to get at the inner, or cambium, layer. It rips open bee trees to feast on honey, honeycombs, bees, and larvae, and will tear apart rotting logs for grubs, beetles, crickets, and ants. A good fisher, the Black Bear often wades in streams or lakes, snagging fish with its jaws or pinning them with a paw. It rounds out its diet with small to medium-size mammals (including the young of deer, Elk, and Moose) or other vertebrates.
In the fall, the bear puts on a good supply of fat, then holes up for the winter in a sheltered place, such as a cave, crevice, hollow tree or log, under the roots of a fallen tree, or in a den that the bear excavates. In the Hudson Bay area, Black Bears will sometimes den in a snowbank. Excrement is never found in the Black Bear's wintering den. The bear stops eating a few days before retiring, but then consumes roughage, such as leaves, pine needles, and bits of its own hair. These pass through the digestive system and form an anal plug, up to 1 foot (30 cm) long, which is voided when the bear emerges in the spring.
Sows mate during their third year, with most producing one tiny cub the first winter, two or three on subsequent breedings. While the mother sleeps in the den, the almost naked newborns nestle into her fur. The mother often lies on her back or side to nurse, but sometimes sits on her haunches, with cubs perched on her lap, much like human infants; they may nurse for about a year. The female Black Bear is not receptive to males while nursing.
This bear is mainly solitary, except briefly during the mating season and when congregating to feed at streams, on large carcasses, and at dumps. Bears are often a problem around open dumps, becoming dangerous as they become habituated to human foods; occasionally people have been killed by them. Hunting Black Bears is a popular sport in some areas, both for the flesh (which must be well cooked because of trichinosis) and the hides, used for rugs. The helmets of Great Britain’s Buckingham Palace guards are made of the Black Bear’s fur.

 

[olena]

State Bird

Northern Cardinal
Cardinalis cardinalis
Red Cardinal

Description 8-9" (20-23 cm). Male bright red with crest, black face, stout red bill. Female buff-brown tinged with red on crest, wings, and tail.
Voice Rich what-cheer, cheer, cheer; purty-purty-purty-purty or sweet-sweet-sweet-sweet. Also a metallic chip.
Habitat Woodland edges, thickets, brushy swamps, and gardens.
Nesting 3 or 4 pale green eggs, spotted with red-brown, in a deep cup of twigs, leaves, and plant fibers concealed in a thicket.
Range Resident in eastern United States and southern Canada (locally) south to Gulf Coast, and from southern California, Arizona, and southern Texas southward.
Discussion This species, named after the red robes worn by Roman Catholic cardinals, has extended its range northward into southern Canada in recent decades. Cardinals are aggressive birds that occupy territories year-round. Both sexes are accomplished songsters and may be heard at any time of year, rather than just in the spring when most other birds are singing. Seeds form a main part of the diet, although insects are eaten in the breeding season. These birds often come to feeders in winter.

 

[olena]

State Butterfly

Monarch
Danaus plexippus


Description 3 1/2-4" (89-102 mm). Very large, with FW long and drawn out. Above, bright, burnt-orange with black veins and black margins sprinkled with white dots; FW tip broadly black interrupted by larger white and orange spots. Below, paler, duskier orange. 1 black spot appears between HW cell and margin on male above and below. Female darker with black veins smudged.
Similar Species Viceroy smaller, has shorter wings and black line across HW. Queen and Tropic Queen are browner and smaller. Female Mimic has large white patch across black FW tips.
Life Cycle Egg, 3/64" h x 9/256" w(1.2 x 0.9 mm), pale green, ribbed, and pitted, is shaped like lemon with flat base. Caterpillar, to 2" (51 mm), is off-white with black and yellow stripes; 1 pair of fine black filaments extends from front and rear. Chrysalis, to 7/8" (28 mm), pale jade-green, studded with glistening gold; plump, rounded, appears lidded, with lid opening along abdominal suture. Host plants are milkweeds (Asclepias) and dogbane (Apocynum).
Flight Successive broods; April-June migrating northward, July-August resident in North, September-October migrating southward, rest of year in overwintering locales. Year-round resident in S. California and Hawaii.
Habitat On migration, anywhere from alpine summits to cities; when breeding, habitats with milkweeds, especially meadows, weedy fields and watercourses. Overwinters in coastal Monterey pine, Monterey cypress, eucalyptus groves in California, and fir forests in Mexican mountains.
Range Nearly all of North America from south of Hudson Bay through South America; absent from Alaska and Pacific Northwest Coast. Established in the Hawaiian Islands and Australia.
Discussion One of the best known butterflies, the Monarch is the only butterfly that annually migrates both north and south as birds do, on a regular basis. But no single individual makes the entire round-trip journey. In the fall, Monarchs in the North begin to congregate and to move southward. Midwestern and eastern Monarchs continue south all the way to the Sierra Madre of middle Mexico, where they spend the winter among fir forests at high altitudes. Far western and Sierra Nevada Monarchs fly to the central and southern coast of California, where they cluster in groves of pine, cypress, and eucalyptus in Pacific Grove and elsewhere. Winter butterflies are sluggish and do not reproduce; they venture out to take nectar on warm days. In spring they head north, breed along the way, and their offspring return to the starting point. Both Mexican and international efforts are underway to protect the millions of Monarchs that come to Mexico. In California, nearly all of the roosting sites face threatening development.

 

[olena]

State Tree

Sugar Maple
Acer saccharum


Description Large tree with rounded, dense crown and striking, multicolored foliage in autumn.
Height: 70-100' (21-30 m).
Diameter: 2-3" (0.6-0.9 m).
Leaves: opposite; 3 1/2-5 1/2" (9-14 cm) long and wide; palmately lobed with 5 deep long-pointed lobes; few narrow long-pointed teeth; 5 main veins from base; leafstalks long and often hairy. Dull dark green above, paler and often hairy on veins beneath; turning deep red, orange, and yellow in autumn.
Bark: light gray; becoming rough and deeply furrowed into narrow scaly ridges.
Twigs: greenish to brown or gray; slender.
Flowers: 3/16" (5 mm) long; with bell-shaped 5-lobed yellowish-green calyx; male and female in drooping clusters on long slender hairy stalks; with new leaves in early spring.
Fruit: 1-1 1/4" (2.5-3 cm) long including long wing; paired forking keys; brown, 1-seeded; maturing in autumn.
Habitat Moist soils of uplands and valleys, sometimes in pure stands.
Range Extreme SE. Manitoba east to Nova Scotia, south to North Carolina, and west to E. Kansas local in NW. South Carolina and N. Georgia; to 2500' (762 m) in north and 3000-5500' (914-1676 m) in southern Appalachians.
Discussion Maples, particularly Sugar Maple, are among the leading furniture woods. This species is used also for flooring, boxes and crates, and veneer. Some trees develop special grain patterns, including birdseye maple with dots suggesting the eyes of birds, and curly and fiddleback maple, with wavy annual rings. Such variations in grain are in great demand. The boiled concentrated sap is the commercial source of maple sugar and syrup, a use colonists learned from the Indians. Each tree yields between 5 and 60 gallons of sap per year; about 32 gallons of sap make 1 gallon of syrup or 4 1/2 pounds of sugar.

Previous Natural Staes
Alabama

 

[Snowwark]

Heather, this is excellent, and so interesting!

We have all of West Virginia's state symbols up here, including the black bear! In fact, we had one prowling around the cottage last week, he left his ...um....droppings....on two different days, on one of our paths to the river. Although normally scared off by humans, they are wild animals to be treated with respect and given a wide berth. Needless to say, we've all been on "bear alert", and keep the kids with us at all times, when we're outside. My sister even wears "bear bells" when she goes for walks or runs. It's a little unnerving.

It must be a beautiful sight to see the rhododendroms in bloom in Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

Thank you very much, Heather!

 

[ListenToCKY]

West Virginia sucks for the most part. I can't wait until I go away for college.


But yes, it is a perdy state

 

[Mamu]

This is all very interesting. Many years ago DH and I visited WV. It reminded me so much of Vermont.

After reading about it's natural state. They do have a lot of similarities, not just landscaping.

 

[nativetxn]

I love seeing these photos and reading about the different states, Heather. Thank you for putting so much time into pulling these together for us.