Jamaica’s National Flower

Jamaica’s National Flower

Stories of Jamaica’s national emblems

Excerpt from the Daily Gleaner

August 1 2025

How the Lignum Vitae flower became Jamaica’s national flower

AFTER CENTURIES of colonial rule by Britain, Jamaica finally became independent nation in 1962 and needed its own national emblems.

On Wednesday, March 30, 1962, Premier Norman Manley read in the House of Representatives a ‘ministry paper’ on Jamaica’s national emblems, and he started out by saying, “The preparations for Jamaica’s Independence demand that many issues of varying degrees of importance within their particular national context have all to be considered and agreement reached as in what might be finally acceptable to the nation at large.”

There ought to be a national anthem and a flag, and of course, a national flower, the island being so verdant and replete with beautiful flowering flora. The Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, in collaboration with the Jamaica Horticultural Society (JHS), had been giving active consideration to the feasibility of selecting a representative national flower.

With the approval of the Cabinet, a select committee, consisting of the president of the Jamaica Horticultural Society, George H. Scott; sculptor Edna Manley; Bernard Lewis, director of the Institute of Jamaica; G R Proctor, botanist at the Science Museum; and V R James, superintendent of public gardens, was established to select the national flower.

A short list of 14 local flowers, selected by various horticultural societies throughout the island, was carefully examined, given the widest informed circulation to ascertain public opinion and exhibited at a flower show organised by the Jamaica Horticultural Society (JHS).

With the establishment of the Independence Celebration Committee, the National Flower Committee was requested to submit a report as quickly as possible. Subsequently, there was a fierce competition in the national flower contest, and the recommendation of the JHS that the lignum vitae should be the floral emblem of Jamaica was adopted by the select committee after due consideration.

Writing in The Sunday Magazine 20 years later, under the headline, ‘National Flower Contest Shot JHS to Prominence’, on August 8, 1982, Green Leaf, says, “Backers of individual competitors jostled in and out of crowds attending the Jamaica Horticultural Society’s annual show at Wolmer’s Boys’ School, touting the claims of their favourite and distributing ballot cards.

“All the excitement and anxiety of a beauty contest, or a political election, pervaded the occasion! Who knows whether there was bogus voting? At all events, the declared winner was the small blue star of lignum vitae, botanically, guaiacum officinale.

“Mightily pleased was George Scott, the society’s first president since its revival after decades of inactivity. The National Flower Contest had been his idea, which was endorsed by the official committee preparing Jamaica’s plan for Independence. The National Flower Contest shot the JHS to prominence.”

The select committee notes say, “The lignum vitae (Guaiacum officinale) is indigenous to Jamaica, and was founded by Christopher Columbus. It is thought that the name ‘wood of life’ was then adopted because of its medicinal qualities. The tree flourishes in the dry woodlands along both the north and south coasts of the island.

“In addition to shedding a delicately attractive blue flower, the plant itself is extremely ornamental. The wood is used for propeller shaft bearings in nearly all the ships sailing the Seven Seas, and because of this, in shipyards, etc., the lignum vitae and Jamaica are closely associated. The wood is also used in the manufacture of curios, sought after by visitors and nationals alike. There is also a thriving export trade.”

August 2025