Last week I was at our local garden center and couldn’t resist the Poinsettia display. Poinsettias weren’t part of my childhood holiday season, but now I can’t imagine the fall and winter festivities without them.

Poinsettias didn’t always have a Christmas association. They were a lowly, yet useful, Mexican shrub the Aztecs called Cuitlaxochitl. The white sap could be used to control fevers, and the colorful bracts were part of a red-purple dye. Poinsettias didn’t grow in Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, but were delivered by caravan from the lowlands.

The Poinsettia began its festive journey in the 17^th century when Franciscan fathers near Taxco began to use the plant in the Fiesta de Santa Pessebre, a nativity procession.

A Mexican legend tells the story of Pepita, a poor girl who had no present to give the baby Jesus. As she walked to the chapel on Christmas Eve, her cousin Pedro told her Jesus is happy with even the smallest gift from someone who loves him.

Pepita picked some weeds from the side of the road, and placed them at the bottom of the nativity scene. The weeds burst into bright red “flowers” that became known as Flores de Noche Buena (Flowers of the Holy Night).

Left to their natural devices, Poinsettias can grow to more than ten feet tall. In Hawaii, this Pua Kalikimaka, grew wild on a hillside.

Joel Roberts Poinsett introduced the Poinsettia to the U. S. in 1828. While serving as the American ambassador to Mexico, Poinsett toured the country and encountered Poinsettias near Taxco de Alarcon. I don’t know the date, but it must have been when the plant sported its red bracts. He sent cuttings of the Mexican plant home to be planted in his greenhouses at Greenville, South Carolina. As the plant took hold, he sent samples to friends and botanical gardens.

Poinsett had an extensive diplomatic and political career, but today is known for the exotic plant he introduced. The word Poinsettia is capitalized because it’s taken from a person’s name.

The plant’s botanical name, Euphorbia pulcherrima, means “very beautiful.”

Poinsettia flowers are the very small blossoms at the center of the plant. The colorful foliage is technically known as bracts, modified leaves. The bracts are created by a process known as photoperiodism, meaning they require periods of darkness that last 12 hours at a time, five days in a row for the color to change. Hence, they are at their most spectacular as the days shorten.

By the way, technically, Poinsettias aren’t poisonous. However, the milky sap sometimes has negative effects. Pets who consume the sap or eat the leaves can develop vomitng or diarrhea. People with latex allergies can have a skin reaction from touching the leaves.

Initially, Poinsettias were a garden novelty. Towards the end of the 19^th century, they were sold as cut flowers. The seasonal potted plants we have today are due to Paul Ecke (1895-1991) who developed the industry. Paul’s father had a dairy farm and orchards near Hollywood, California. In the 1920s, Paul began selling cut Poinsettia flowers on Sunset Boulevard.

As the movie business grew, farms became displaced. Paul bought land in Encinitas, California, and built a 68 acre ranch. The company moved plant production to greenhouses so they could nurture the plants rather than growing fields of Poinsettias for cut flowers. Paul used grafting technology to develop unique varieties of Poinsettias. He developed plants that look good for the entire holiday season and come in a variety of colors, including pink, white, yellow, purple, salmon, and multi-color. The company also does special orders. For example, a customer may want white Poinsettias to have dyed green highlights , or glitter.

In addition to selling Poinsettias to the market, the Eckes also sell stock plants for other growers to buy and develop for their local markets.

Today the Ecke Ranch is the world’s largest supplier of Poinsettia plants, contributing over $250 million to the U.S. Retail economy.

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Little Mexican Girl, 1905.

Poinsettias, Hawai`i, 1959.

John Roberts Poinsett.

Illustration of Poinsettia Pulcherrima, 1880.

Other Photos by Author.

Poinsettias at Christmas. Why Christmas.

Matt Krantz. “Paul Ecke, Sr.: ‘Poinsettia King’ Cultivated a Holiday Tradition.” Investor’s Business Daily. Nov. 21, 2018.

The post POINSETTIA: AMERICA’S CHRISTMAS FLOWER first appeared on Sandra Wagner-Wright.

Poinsettia plants appear every December in plant stores, florists, grocery stores, fund raising inventories, and even back yards. They come in a variety of colors. Red remains the most popular, but there are whites, pink and whites, purple, yellow, orange and salmon. This year I chose red, but I’ve also had pinks and whites.

Like many others, I try to plant these hothouse plants in the backyard so they will bloom again the next year. One time we had a brilliant red poinsettia bush. It bloomed with abandon for several years, and then abruptly died. But I persist.

Poinsettias are tropical plants indigenous to Mexico where they are a perennial shrub that can reach a height of 13 feet. The Aztecs used the colorful leaves to produce a red dye and the sap as a medication to reduce fevers. In Nahuatl, the Aztec language, the plant is called Cuitlaxochiti, “flower that grows in residues or soil.” An accurate, if not poetic, description.

FLOR DE NOCHE BUENA

Today the poinsettia is often called the Christmas Eve Flower, in part due to a legend from 16th century Mexico. Once upon a time, everyone in the village brought expensive gifts to the Baby Jesus. But Maria was too poor to give anything. When she approached the altar, an angel appeared and told Maria to gather weeds from the roadside and bring them to the altar. To everyone’s amazement crimson blossoms sprouted from the leaves. A Christmas miracle.

Joel Roberts Poinsett was the first American Minister to Mexico. In 1825 he found the crimson plants growing on the hillsides of Taxco. Enchanted, he sent cuttings to his home in Greenville, South Carolina. The plants flourished in Poinsett’s greenhouse and he began to give them away.

Officially known as Euphorbia pulcherrima, most of us know this Christmas Flower as Poinsettia. December 12, the day Poinsett died in 1851, is officially called Poinsettia Day.

I’m going to take some holiday time for the next couple weeks. I’ll be back on January 9, 2017.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

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Featured Image: Photo of Author’s Poinsettia

Drawing of Joel Roberts Poinsett in the Public Domain. Wikimedia Commons.

NTS Satellite Network. Public Domain. Wikimedia Commons.

The Poinsettia Pages. University of Illinois Extension.

Poinsettia: The Christmas Flower. APS.

The post POINSETTIAS & CHRISTMAS first appeared on Sandra Wagner-Wright.