Louisiana: State Flag, Bird and Facts

About Louisiana

French roots run deep here. Louisiana is the only state divided into parishes instead of counties. Texas, Arkansas and Mississippi border it, and the Gulf of Mexico lines the south. Baton Rouge is the capital, and New Orleans is the largest city, with about 363,000 people. Much of the land was built from mud carried down the Mississippi River, which left huge deltas, marshes and swamps.

Those wetlands hold ibises, egrets, tree frogs, sturgeon and paddlefish, while the higher north has tallgrass prairie and longleaf pine forest. The blue flag, nicknamed the Pelican flag, shows a white pelican pecking at her own breast, a pose called vulning. A white ribbon below it carries the motto Union Justice Confidence in blue letters. It became official in 1912, the same year the state turned 100.

Did you know?

• Driskill Mountain is the high point of Louisiana, at only 535 feet.
• The bald cypress is the official state tree of Louisiana.
• Louisiana license plates use the nickname Sportsman's Paradise.