In Italy, for example, cypresses are quintessentially Tuscan, and a must have in any renaissance garden.
Rome and in general the coastal areas of Italy are very tied to the [stone pine](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Appia_Antica_way.jpg), so much so that there are even specific trees linked to popular places or historical figures.
Sicily is often linked to the [prickly pear](https://ilovefruitandvegfromeurope.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/bg-fichi-india.jpg) despite being a plant native to central America.
I am not talking about plants that are cultivated for consumption but ornamental or native plants that are representative, e.g. the Edelweiss for Austria and/or Switzerland.
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We have semi-official “province flowers” for each of Sweden’s 25 historical provinces, but they are somewhat arbitrary and it’s rare for people to know them. They are mostly used for promotional/tourist stuff and hard trivia questions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province_flowers_of_Sweden
We have two specific species of Oak (Carballo / Carvalho, *Quercus Robur*) and Chestnut (Castiro / Castiñeiro, *Castanea Sativa*) that are highly representative of the country (Galicia) and its culture.
Forest with any of them as the main tree has a specific name, full of legends that dates back to Celtic mythology and prior, where the spirits of the passed roam in misty nights and can take with them unaware wanderers. Both forests are called Carballeira and Souto (from lat. *Saltus -us*, forest).
It was believed the Romans reintroduced the Chestnut in all of Europe after the glaciation from, probably, the original Greek area, but recent genetic studies showed that the Galician Chestnut is descendant of surviving local forests dating back 20,000 years of isolation from the ones the Romans spread.
The Carballo (oak) is so significant in our culture that is of the few items (as opposed to the more common for places) retaining a pre-Roman name, supposedly proto-Indo-European or proto-Aquitanian/Basque (first extant migrants to the peninsula originating from a region next to Indo-European-proper speakers, and closely related). Probably from the root *(s)krwos*, akin Lat. *curvus*, “bent”, due to the tendency of old individuals to have heavily bent and massive trunks.
Scania’s official flower is the oxeye daisy, but although they are very common here, I still don’t think it is the plant that most people associate with Scania, either within or outside of the region.
Instead, I’d say Scania is mostly associated with two species of trees. One is the beech, as we have a lot of beech forests here – a lot more than anywhere else in Sweden. While most of the rest of Sweden is dominated by spruce and pine, it is the beech forest that is Scania’s dominant type of natural forest and they are very beloved. Scania’s larges national park is a beech forest as well, and the regional natural protection agencies are actively working to increase the number of beeches while removing a lot of introduced spruce and pine trees.
The second typical species of tree is the willow. It is closely associated with Scania’s open countryside and agricultural plains, where they are traditionally planted in avenues leading up to farm houses. The willows of these avenues are traditionally pollarded (pruned) to give the tree a very densely branched and distinct look. These willow avenues are a typical sight in Scania – but are again quite rare in most of the rest of Sweden.