Metal sculpture, South Carolina state flower - Yellow Jessamine

Artist, Helen Hornberger, revived the techniques of French tole to create naturalistic representations of the state flowers. The artist used thin copper sheets as her base, and painted them with oil paint in the natural colors of the blossoms and leaves of the Yellow Jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens). Four tubular yellow blossoms with a white stamen within are mingled among elongated green leaves along the grey stem.

The Congress of Representative Women at the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago proposed that each U.S. state and territory select a flower to represent their state in the “National Garland of Flowers.” This resulted in the National Floral Emblem Society. Each state has adopted to represent the state and its people based on their importance to the state’s history, economy, folklore, or native varieties. Tole artist Helen Hornberger created each artificial flower representing each state to create for a bouquet displaying America’s floral diversity.

SOUTH CAROLINA: The Yellow Jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens) was designated the official state flower of South Carolina on February 1, 1924. In addition to its beauty and fragrance, the Yellow Jessamine was selected for several clearly stated reasons by the legislature. According to state lawmakers, not only is the flower indigenous throughout the state, its return each spring offers a moral lesson in the value of constancy, loyalty, and patriotism through its service to the state of South Carolina. The Carolina or Yellow Jessamine is a climbing plant that grows yellow funnel-shaped flowers. They are grown in suburban gardens in several southeastern states on trellises and lattice structures and in the wild, clinging to tree trunks and snaking along as ground cover. They give off a delicate, sweet fragrance that is highly prized and signals the return of spring. Despite its pleasant aroma, the South Carolina state flower is poisonous, and wildlife avoid it.