Long hailed in American song and feted in the distinctly American Tournament of Roses Parade since 1890, roses were a longstanding tradition in the United States. And yet America had no national flower for its first 220 years.

On Sept. 23, 1986, Congress passed a joint resolution naming the rose the "national flower emblem" of the United States. Then-President Ronald Reagan signed a proclamation of the resolution during a ceremony at the White House rose garden on Oct. 7, 1986.

In signing the proclamation, Reagan noted that evidence of roses growing in America was "fossilized" many years before it became a nation. The first U.S. president, George Washington, bred roses, and the flower is grown in all 50 states.

"More often than any other flower, we hold the rose dear as the symbol of life and love and devotion, of beauty and eternity," Reagan said during the signing. "For the love of man and woman, for the love of mankind and God, for the love of country, Americans who would speak the language of the heart do so with a rose."