Sweetbay Magnolia may be state’s new official state flower

In March 2026, the Georgia Senate unanimously passed a bill to change its state flower from the invasive Cherokee Rose to the native Sweetbay Magnolia. Bill 240 awaits final approval by the House and Governor.

The change was intended to support local pollinators and provide a more ecologically responsible symbol for the state since the former state flower (the Cherokee Rose) is actually an invasive species from Asia.

The Sweetbay Magnolia flower is an evergreen with fragrant white flowers that acts as a host plant for the state’s Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly as well as other local pollinators.

The catalyst for the changed was spurred by the Georgia Native Plant Society (GNPS), which was formed in 1994.

“Changing the state flower was our first objective because of its symbolic importance,” wrote GNPS Board of Directors Chairman Michael Cowan in an email. “The mere fact of going through the effort of changing it will hopefully spur broader conversations about why native plants are so important as the foundation of any healthy ecosystem.”

The Cherokee Rose was deemed Georgia’s state flower in 1916 and at the time it was believed to be indigenous to northern Georgia and named for the Cherokee Tribe.

Members of the Cherokee tribe were forcibly removed to western territories in 1838. However, not only is the flower from Southeast Asia, it is not truly related to the Cherokee people in a meaningful way.
The Cherokee Rose is considered an invasive plant that is placed on “alert” as a potential threat to native species in the future, according to the Georgia Invasive Species Council. It is therefore not sold or encouraged to be planted as a landscaping plant, according to a GNPS press release.

Sweetbay magnolias, however, were used by indigenous communities across Georgia for medicines and ceremonial purposes, according to the GNPS. The native flower also provides a home for Georgia’s state butterfly, the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, and its caterpillars feed off the leaves. Seeds from the Sweetbay Magnolia get picked up by birds and squirrels and deer and cattle graze on its leaves and twigs.

The Sweetbay Magnolia stands grows to around 15 feet tall, and has fragrant, cup-shaped flowers with 9 to 12 waxy white petals that bloom from red seed pods.

The Sweetbay Magnolia grows in acidic swampy and wet soils and even tolerates flooding. It’s a semi-evergreen in warmer climates, meaning its leaves can remain on the branch and glossy all year long.