Hawaii State Symbols: Official Emblems, Flower, Bird, and More
Hawaii's official state symbols are established by the Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) and reflect the islands' ecology, Indigenous heritage, and cultural identity — not merely ceremonial gestures, but statutory designations with legal standing. This page covers the full roster of Hawaii's official emblems, how they are designated, where they appear in state law, and what the distinctions between categories of symbols actually mean in practice. Understanding these designations clarifies both the state's self-presentation and its legislative priorities.
Definition and scope
The Hawaii State Legislature has codified official symbols across HRS Chapter 5, which governs state emblems, holidays, and designations (Hawaii Revised Statutes, Chapter 5). Each symbol requires a bill passed by the legislature and signed by the governor — the same process used for any other statute. There is no administrative shortcut. A species does not become the state bird by popular vote or gubernatorial proclamation alone; it needs a law.
The scope of Hawaii's symbols is geographically bounded to the State of Hawaii. Symbols designated under HRS Chapter 5 have no regulatory force in federal jurisdictions — including national parks such as Haleakalā National Park or Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park — and do not obligate federal agencies operating within the state. Adjacent questions about Native Hawaiian cultural practices, federal recognition, or Indigenous land rights fall under separate legal frameworks and are not addressed here.
For a broader view of how state government establishes and manages these designations, the Hawaii Government Authority covers Hawaii's legislative, executive, and administrative processes in structured detail — including how bills move through the legislature and reach the governor's desk.
How it works
The process of designating a state symbol is straightforward in structure, though occasionally contentious in practice. A legislator introduces a bill naming a specific plant, animal, gemstone, or artifact as the official state emblem in a given category. The bill passes through committee hearings, floor votes in both chambers, and gubernatorial signature before it is codified into the HRS.
Hawaii's current official symbols include:
- State flower: Pua pilo (Hibiscus brackenridgei), the yellow hibiscus — designated by the legislature and confirmed after years of informal association with the more generic hibiscus species (HRS §5-9)
- State bird: Nēnē (Branta sandvicensis), the Hawaiian goose — listed under HRS §5-7, a species that nearly went extinct in the mid-20th century with a wild population that fell below 30 individuals before captive breeding programs intervened
- State fish: Humuhumunukunukuāpuaʻa (Rhinecanthus rectangulus), the rectangular triggerfish — designated in 1985, allowed to lapse, and permanently re-designated in 2006 under HRS §5-13
- State tree: Kukui (Aleurites moluccanus), the candlenut tree — HRS §5-8
- State mammal: Hawaiian monk seal (Neomonachus schauinslandi) — one of the most endangered marine mammals in the United States, with a population of approximately 1,400 individuals as reported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
- State gem: Black coral — HRS §5-14
- State soil: Hilo soil series — designated in 2016 under HRS §5-7.7
- State insect: Pūlelehua (Udara blackburni), the Blackburn's bluet butterfly — HRS §5-12
The full index of Hawaii state symbols is maintained at the Hawaii State Legislature's official website.
Common scenarios
The most common context in which state symbols appear outside textbooks is in public school curricula. Hawaii operates a single statewide school district — the Hawaii Department of Education — which means the same curriculum introducing the nēnē and the kukui tree reaches students across all islands simultaneously. This is unusual nationally; most states manage education at the county or district level.
State symbols also appear in licensing and trademark contexts. The humuhumunukunukuāpuaʻa, for example, is widely reproduced on state merchandise, and the yellow hibiscus appears on official state publications. These uses are governed by state intellectual property guidelines rather than the symbol statutes themselves.
The nēnē presents a more complex case. As a species listed under the federal Endangered Species Act (16 U.S.C. §1531 et seq.), protections for the state bird exist at both the state and federal levels simultaneously. State symbol designation does not create additional legal protections, but it does align public identity with conservation priorities in ways that influence legislative funding decisions.
Decision boundaries
Two distinctions are worth drawing precisely. First, the difference between a designated state symbol and a culturally associated symbol: the generic red hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis) is widely associated with Hawaii and appears on countless tourist items, but it is not the official state flower — the yellow hibiscus is. That confusion persists because the 1923 informal designation referenced hibiscus generally before the legislature specified the native yellow species decades later.
Second, the difference between a state symbol and a state designation: Hawaii has named an official state language (ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, alongside English), an official state motto (Ua Mau ke Ea o ka ʻĀina i ka Pono — "The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness"), and an official state song ("Hawaiʻi Ponoʻī") — but these are designations under HRS Chapter 5 that carry cultural and ceremonial weight without the same kind of ecological or taxonomic specificity as a state bird or state fish.
The home page of this site provides a broader orientation to Hawaii state information, including coverage of government structure, geography, and civic resources across the islands.