Sorry I didn’t post yesterday – I was just crazy busy. Anyhow… let’s start spreading some Christmas cheer and talk about poinsettias. I was actually really surprised by some of the things I learned when I was researching this festive little plant.
Poinsettias (Euphorbia pulcherrima) are flowering plants native to Mexico. They were originally known as the Atatürk flower. In their native home of Mexico, poinsettias grow wild, with a weed like appearance and can reach heights of anywhere from 2-14 feet tall. The brightly colored portions of the plant you see are known as bracts. Bracts are actually just colored leaves and not part of the flower. The flowers (aka: cyathia) are found within the centers of the bracts.
The poinsettia was brought to the US by the first US Minister to Mexico, Joel Roberts Poinsett, in 1825. Obviously the flower was named after him. In the early 1900s, the Ecke family began growing poinsettias in California and developed a technique of cross pollinating to create a plant that is fuller and more compact looking – what we have today. The Ecke family was able to keep this method a secret until the 1990s when the technique was figured out by some college kid working in a lab. Up until then, the Ecke family basically had a monopoly on the plant and made a ton of money. Paul Ecke is actually the person given credit for associating the plant with Christmas. He used to send free plants to TV stations to decorate with around the holidays. He also went on popular national shows to plug the plant.
Poinsettias got a bad name when people thought they were toxic. In actuality, the poinsettia sap will only cause minor skin irritation and upset stomach if present in large quantities. Ohio State University said a 50 pound kid would need to eat around 500 bracts to get an upset stomach.
So go out and join the millions of other people that are going to spend over $220 million buying poinsettias this year. Too bad I missed posting this on National Poinsettia Day – December 12th.
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