The Legend of the Cherokee Rose

The Georgia state flower is the "Cherokee Rose". It is believed that the rose was introduced into the state, perhaps directly from China or from China by the way of England. One well known horticulturist agreeing with this view gives the year 1757 as the date of it's introduction into England and advances the belief that it reached the United States shortly afterwards. The name "Cherokee Rose" is a local appellation derived from the Cherokee Indians who widely distributed the plant.


As the legend goes, along the "Trail Of Tears" the mothers of the Cherokee grieved so much that the chiefs prayed for a sign to lift the mothers spirits and give them strength to care for their children. From that day forward, a beautiful new flower, a rose, grew wherever a mother's tear fell to the ground. The rose is white, that represents the mother's tears. It has a gold center, that represents the gold taken from the Cherokee lands, and it has seven leaves on each stem that represent the seven Cherokee clans that made the journey. To this day the "Cherokee Rose" prospers along the route of the "Trail of Tears".

                                                                                                                           L.G.V.