State Flower
The Iris

In 1919, the General Assembly, by Senate Joint Resolution 13, provided that a state flower be chosen by the school children of Tennessee. Accordingly, a vote was taken and the passion flower was chosen. In 1933, however, the Legislature adopted Senate Joint Resolution 53 designating the iris as the “State Flower of Tennessee,” but failed to formally rescind the designation of the passion flower as the state flower. To eliminate this confusion, in 1973 the 88th General Assembly, by Chapter 16, designated the passion flower the state wildflower and the iris the state cultivated flower.

The iris, genus Iridaceae, is an herbacious perennial of which there are about 170 species, including several North American varieties, the most common of which is the Blue Flag. While there are several different colors among the iris, and the act naming the iris as the state flower did not name a particular color, by common acceptance the purple iris is considered the state flower.

Information from this page taken from the Tennessee Blue Book.