Each state in the United States of America is unique. The people and legislature of Florida have selected the following state symbols to represent their state's individual environment and culture.
![[Image of The Florida State Seal]](/media/graphics/state-seals/florida-seal.png)
The Florida state seal was adopted by the 1865 legislature, which mandated that the seal be the size of the American silver dollar and display a scene in the center "of the sun's rays over a high land in the distance, a cocoa tree, a steamboat on water, and an Indian female scattering flowers in the foreground, (all) encircled by the words, "Great Seal of the State of Florida In God We Trust."
In 1970, Florida's official seal was updated. The cocoa tree was replaced by the sabal palmetto palm (the state tree of Florida), the headdress was removed from the Indian woman (headdresses were only worn by male Indians), and the woman was depicted as a Florida Seminole Indian (originally she was an Indian of the western plains).
The state seal is also displayed on Florida's state flag
![[Image of The Florida State Flag]](/media/graphics/state-flags/florida-flag.png)
On a white field emblazoned with a cross of St. Andrew and the state seal, Florida's flag represents the land of sunshine, flowers, palm trees, rivers and lakes. The seal features a brilliant sun, a cabbage palmetto tree, a steamboat sailing and a Native American Seminole woman scattering flowers.
