Okla-homey
12/24/2006, 08:50 AM
http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/116/tttttttttttttttttttttttys2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Mistletoe shares with Oklahoma Rose
By GENE CURTIS World Staff Writer
12/24/2006
The wife of a pioneer farmer died during a devastating winter in the early 1890s in what was Cheyenne Territory. Because her husband couldn't find any flowers to decorate her grave, he used mistletoe.
It was a parasite but it had blooms, was the nearest thing to a flower in that bleak winter and was found in abundance in the tops of most of the trees in what became western Oklahoma.
One of the couple's friends vowed that if Oklahoma ever became a state, he would see to it that mistletoe, considered by most as a decoration for Chrismas, became the state flower in memory of the settler's wife.
That poignant story, probably apocryphal, was included in Oklahoma history texts for public school students for decades as background to explain the Territorial Legislature's adoption in 1893 of a bill naming the evergreen bough as the state flower, the first state emblem named.
The bill was introduced by Rep. John Kimberly of Kingfisher and was signed into law by Territorial Gov. A.J. Seay over objections of many who maintained it was not a flower and was not a fitting representation of the territory.
Dan W. Peery, chairman of the Committee of the Whole in the House, later wrote
that Wimberly had introduced the bill at the request of a Mrs. Beason, an early-day settler at old Reno City, now a ghost town north of El Reno. Rep. Harper Cunningham, speaking for a group of Guthrie women, wanted to substitute another flower, but the mistletoe measure passed 16-8.
After statehood, Sen. John Golobie of Henryetta introduced a bill to retain the mistletoe. The bill was passed by the first Oklahoma Legislature but this time it was designated as the state floral emblem -- although those early legislators probably thought they were naming an official flower with a fancier name.
Most Oklahomans, including newspapers, didn't consider that semantic difference and deemed mistletoe as the state's official flower. The official status of mistletoe, whether a flower or floral emblem, remained unchallenged until the term of Gov. Leon C. Phillips in 1939-43.
That's when Rep. Glade Kirkpatrick of Tulsa headed a move to replace mistletoe with the Cowboy Rose, commonly known as the posy. He appeared at the Legislature one day with an arm ful of posies, handing one to each legislator. But his resolution to change the flower died when the House struck its calendar.
Another challenge to mistletoe came in 1961 when Rep. M. A. Diel of Clinton sponsored a move to substitute the orange and brown daisy, commonly known as Indian Blanket. His bill never got off the ground. Oklahoma gardeners weren't very excited by the Indian Blanket that had been adopted by the 1910 Legislature as the official wildflower and, legislators pointed out, it would be expensive to change hundreds of textbooks and pamphlets.
The Oklahoma Rose was suggested as an appropriate state flower in 1967 in a bill by Rep. L.H. Bengston of Oklahoma City and favored by Gov. Dewey Bartlett, but it was nearly 40 years later before it received that designation.
The Oklahoma Rose had been developed by Herbert Swim and O. L. Weeks of Oklahoma State University to plant in the Oklahoma exhibit at the New York World's Fair. A bed of the roses was planted near the state Capitol between the Will Rogers and Sequoyah office buildings. Most of the bushes had died because of the state's hot summers before that variety received the state flower designation.
The 2004 Legislature finally approved the Oklahoma Rose as the state's flower and Gov. Brad Henry signed the bill in April 2004. The bill had been introduced by Sen. Gilmer Capps of Snyder. It was legislation that grew out of 40 years of efforts by Dottie Weissenberger of Oklahoma City.
Those who are fond of the flower say its deep crimson represents the blood shed when the Five Civilized Tribes were moved to Oklahoma.
But standing under an Oklahoma Rose doesn't evoke kissing -- a tradition associated with mistletoe that dates to an ancient Greek festival called Saturnalia, when the parasite was thought to aid fertility.
And we still have mistletoe for our state floral emblem -- and for kissing.
Mistletoe shares with Oklahoma Rose
By GENE CURTIS World Staff Writer
12/24/2006
The wife of a pioneer farmer died during a devastating winter in the early 1890s in what was Cheyenne Territory. Because her husband couldn't find any flowers to decorate her grave, he used mistletoe.
It was a parasite but it had blooms, was the nearest thing to a flower in that bleak winter and was found in abundance in the tops of most of the trees in what became western Oklahoma.
One of the couple's friends vowed that if Oklahoma ever became a state, he would see to it that mistletoe, considered by most as a decoration for Chrismas, became the state flower in memory of the settler's wife.
That poignant story, probably apocryphal, was included in Oklahoma history texts for public school students for decades as background to explain the Territorial Legislature's adoption in 1893 of a bill naming the evergreen bough as the state flower, the first state emblem named.
The bill was introduced by Rep. John Kimberly of Kingfisher and was signed into law by Territorial Gov. A.J. Seay over objections of many who maintained it was not a flower and was not a fitting representation of the territory.
Dan W. Peery, chairman of the Committee of the Whole in the House, later wrote
that Wimberly had introduced the bill at the request of a Mrs. Beason, an early-day settler at old Reno City, now a ghost town north of El Reno. Rep. Harper Cunningham, speaking for a group of Guthrie women, wanted to substitute another flower, but the mistletoe measure passed 16-8.
After statehood, Sen. John Golobie of Henryetta introduced a bill to retain the mistletoe. The bill was passed by the first Oklahoma Legislature but this time it was designated as the state floral emblem -- although those early legislators probably thought they were naming an official flower with a fancier name.
Most Oklahomans, including newspapers, didn't consider that semantic difference and deemed mistletoe as the state's official flower. The official status of mistletoe, whether a flower or floral emblem, remained unchallenged until the term of Gov. Leon C. Phillips in 1939-43.
That's when Rep. Glade Kirkpatrick of Tulsa headed a move to replace mistletoe with the Cowboy Rose, commonly known as the posy. He appeared at the Legislature one day with an arm ful of posies, handing one to each legislator. But his resolution to change the flower died when the House struck its calendar.
Another challenge to mistletoe came in 1961 when Rep. M. A. Diel of Clinton sponsored a move to substitute the orange and brown daisy, commonly known as Indian Blanket. His bill never got off the ground. Oklahoma gardeners weren't very excited by the Indian Blanket that had been adopted by the 1910 Legislature as the official wildflower and, legislators pointed out, it would be expensive to change hundreds of textbooks and pamphlets.
The Oklahoma Rose was suggested as an appropriate state flower in 1967 in a bill by Rep. L.H. Bengston of Oklahoma City and favored by Gov. Dewey Bartlett, but it was nearly 40 years later before it received that designation.
The Oklahoma Rose had been developed by Herbert Swim and O. L. Weeks of Oklahoma State University to plant in the Oklahoma exhibit at the New York World's Fair. A bed of the roses was planted near the state Capitol between the Will Rogers and Sequoyah office buildings. Most of the bushes had died because of the state's hot summers before that variety received the state flower designation.
The 2004 Legislature finally approved the Oklahoma Rose as the state's flower and Gov. Brad Henry signed the bill in April 2004. The bill had been introduced by Sen. Gilmer Capps of Snyder. It was legislation that grew out of 40 years of efforts by Dottie Weissenberger of Oklahoma City.
Those who are fond of the flower say its deep crimson represents the blood shed when the Five Civilized Tribes were moved to Oklahoma.
But standing under an Oklahoma Rose doesn't evoke kissing -- a tradition associated with mistletoe that dates to an ancient Greek festival called Saturnalia, when the parasite was thought to aid fertility.
And we still have mistletoe for our state floral emblem -- and for kissing.