§170.23. Native Plant Month

            A. The legislature does hereby recognize and acknowledge the following:

            (1) Louisiana is home to nearly two thousand five hundred native plant species including large shade trees, such as our state tree, Taxodium distichum or bald cypress, and state flower, Magnolia grandiflora or southern magnolia, as well as shrubs, perennials, vines, grasses, and wildflowers.

            (2) Native plants play an important role in all of Louisiana's diverse ecosystems, from the coastal marshes and prairies to the bluff forests of the Tunica Hills, from the bottomland hardwood forests and swamps to the longleaf pine savannas and the oak and hickory woodlands.

            (3) It is the policy of this state to encourage public awareness about the benefits of Louisiana's native plants to pollinators and other wildlife, to the economy, and to the health and sustainability of Louisiana's fragile ecosystems.

            B. In observance and recognition of the indigenous species of native plants which are essential to maintain Louisiana's diverse ecosystem, the legislature hereby designates the month of April of each year as "Native Plant Month" in Louisiana.

            Acts 2024, No. 219, §1.