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Florida's nickname is the Sunshine State: the Department of State says Florida is known by it, and Florida law allows the words "Sunshine State" at the bottom of every license plate.
The state motto, In God We Trust, has been on the state seal since 1868 and in law since 2006.
The mockingbird has been the state bird since the 1927 Legislature chose it; bills to make the American flamingo the state bird died in 2025 and again in 2026. The orange blossom has been the state flower since 1909, and the sabal palm, also called the cabbage palm, the state tree since 1953; in 1970 it replaced the cocoa palm on the state seal.
Key lime pie is the state pie (2006), orange juice the state beverage (1967), the orange the state fruit (2005), strawberry shortcake with natural Florida dairy topping the state dessert (2022) and tupelo honey the state honey (2016). The Florida panther is the state animal (1982); the manatee the state marine mammal and the porpoise the saltwater mammal (both 1975); the Atlantic sailfish the saltwater fish and the Florida largemouth bass, which the Department of State now calls the Florida bass, the freshwater fish (both 1975); the American alligator the state reptile (1987); the loggerhead the saltwater reptile and the gopher tortoise the state tortoise (both 2008). The horse conch is the state shell (1969), the moonstone the state gem (1970) and agatized coral the state stone (1979). The state song is "Old Folks at Home," with revised lyrics, and the state anthem "Florida, Where the Sawgrass Meets the Sky" (both 2008). There are also a state butterfly, the zebra longwing (1996); a wildflower, the coreopsis (1991); a soil, Myakka fine sand (1989); a play, Cross and Sword (1973); a horse, the Florida Cracker Horse (2008); and cattle, the Florida Cracker Cattle (2018).
01Florida's own law names several: key lime pie is the state pie, orange juice the state beverage, the orange the state fruit, strawberry shortcake with natural Florida dairy topping the state dessert, and tupelo honey the state honey.
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02St. Augustine, in St. Johns County. Pedro Menendez de Aviles came ashore there on September 8, 1565, and the city describes itself as the oldest continuously occupied settlement of European and African-American origin in the United States.
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03Manatees cannot survive long in water below about sixty-eight degrees, so from November to March they crowd into the springs and the warm-water outflows, and that is when you see them in numbers.
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04In the wild, rarely, and almost only in Southwest Florida. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission puts the population at about 120 to 230 adults, and most of the breeding animals, the females especially, live south of the Caloosahatchee River.
Read the answer →Move over: on a road with two or more lanes going your way, when you come up on a stopped emergency vehicle, sanitation truck, utility service vehicle or wrecker, or a disabled vehicle showing hazard lights, flares or signs or with people standing by it, you must leave the lane next to it.
Apply at your county tax collector's office or a license plate agent with the state's application, certified by a medical, osteopathic or chiropractic physician, a podiatric physician, an optometrist, a physician assistant, or an advanced practice registered nurse working under a physician's protocol.
Apply together, in person, at any county Clerk of Court, each with a state-issued photo ID, military ID or passport, and know your Social Security numbers and, if either of you was married before, the exact date that marriage ended.
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