Bluebonnet (plant)
Bluebonnet is a name given to any number of blue-flowered species of the genus "Lupinus" predominantly found in southwestern United States and is collectively the state flower of Texas. The shape of the petals on the flower resembles the bonnet worn by pioneer women to shield them from the sun.
Species often called bluebonnets include:On March 7, 1901, "Lupinus subcarnosus" became the only species of bluebonnet recognized as the state flower of Texas; however, "Lupinus texensis" emerged as the favorite of most Texans. So, in 1971, the Texas Legislature made any similar species of "Lupinus" that could be found in Texas the state flower.
Helianthus annuus
Although it was commonly accepted that the sunflower was first domesticated in what is now the southeastern US, roughly 5000 years ago, there is evidence that it was first domesticated in Mexico around 2600 BC. These crops were found in Tabasco, Mexico at the San Andres dig site. The earliest known examples in the United States of a fully domesticated sunflower have been found in Tennessee, and date to around 2300 BC. Other very early examples come from rockshelter sites in Eastern Kentucky. Many indigenous American peoples used the sunflower as the symbol of their solar deity, including the Aztecs and the Otomi of Mexico and the Incas in South America. In 1510 early Spanish explorers encountered the sunflower in the Americas and carried its seeds back to Europe. Of the four plants known to have been domesticated in what is now the eastern continental United States and to have become important agricultural commodities, the sunflower is currently the most economically important.