Poinsettia - The Origin

The Poinsettia, known internationally as the flower of Christmas, originated in Mexico, with the Aztecs first calling it a “cuetlaxochitl,” which means "mortal flower that perishes and withers like all that is pure.” A Mexican legend states that, long ago, the people liked to bring flowers to fill up Christ’s manger. However there was a poor, young boy who was unable to afford flowers.  An angel appeared to him and instructed him to pick some weeds from the side of the road. When he put them in the manger, they turned into gorgeous red flowers, which became known as “Flor de Noche Buena”- the flower of Christmas Eve.

The name poinsettia comes from Dr Joel Robert Poinsett, the first United States ambassador to Mexico in 1825. When his duties were complete four years later, Dr Poinsett brought the flower back to the United States, where he began to grow them in his greenhouse. By 1836 they had become widely popular across the south, where they then became known as Poinsettias, in his honour.

Dec. 12 is celebrated in the United States as National Poinsettia Day.

Poinsettias are members of the Euphorbiaceae Family. There are over 7,500 different plants that make up this large plant family, from the low-growing garden weeds known as spurges to the Candelabra Tree (Euphorbia ingens), of South Africa. The poinsettia was given the name Euphorbia pulcherrima by the German botanist, Karl Ludwig, literally being translated as “the most beautiful euphorbia.” In their natural wild setting, poinsettias are perennial flowering shrubs that can grow between 10 and 15 feet tall, becoming troublesome weeds. The actual flowers of the poinsettia are fairly small. What most people see and call the flower are actually colourful modified leaves known as bracts. The colourful bracts begin their annual show from late October – January.

Red is the original and most common colour; however there are over 100 variants. Ranging from white, to “Ice Punch” the newly developed colour that was created in 2006 by Ecke Ranch, as pictured on the bottom left.