Wyoming’s State Flower.
Have you ever wondered why it’s called the Indian Paintbrush?
After shooting it, I needed to find out.
And it turns out to be a sweet little story.
In summary……
“The Indian Paintbrush got its name from a Native American legend. In the legend a young American Indian wanted to paint the sunset but became frustrated because he could not produce any colors that matched the beauty of a sunset. He asked the Great Spirit for help. The Great Spirit provided him with paintbrushes with the beautiful colors on them which he used to create his painting. When done the young Indian left his used paintbrushes scattered around the landscape. These paint brushes blossomed into plants and were then named Indian PaintBrushes.”
There’s a lovely little children’s book by Tomie DePaola, that tells the story in much more detail.
