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Celebrating National Poinsettia Day

By Kristi Hendricks - Garden Inspirations | Dec 9, 2022

You don’t need to be a gardener to celebrate Dec. 12 as National Poinsettia Day. Poinsettias are one of the most favored plants for celebrating the holiday season, with their beautiful coloration ranging from white, pink and red to variegated.

Euphorbia pulcherrima’s connection to the Christmas season dates back to the 16the century in Mexico, where the poinsettia grows as a straggly deciduous shrub. Legend has it that a young girl was concerned that she had no gift to celebrate the Christ Child’s birthday, because she was so poor. An angel tells her to give any gift with her love. So, she gathered weeds from the roadside and placed them in the manger. These wildflowers bloomed into the beautiful red stars of the poinsettia.

But the story goes back even further. The Aztecs believed that the poinsettia was the true symbol of purity and often used it in their rituals. They prized the plant for the vibrant red dye produced from its leaves.

Spanish monks settled in the south of Mexico later, in the 17th century, and cultivated the plant by the eve of the holiday, because of its scarlet color and resemblance to the star of Bethlehem. The flowering plant was called “Noche Buena,” meaning “the Christmas Eve.”

Joel Roberts Poinsett, an American botanist and the first U.S. minister to Mexico, was the person who introduced the poinsettia to the United States. In 1825, he sent cuttings of the poinsettia plant home to Charleston, S.C.

However, it wasn’t until the early 1920s when Paul Ecke, a second-generation farmer in California, discovered a grafting technique causing the seedlings to branch, that the poinsettia started to take root in American culture. The family began selling their Christmas flowers at roadside stands and increased their sales through marketing and shipping.

In 2002, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a measure recognizing National Poinsettia Day and the significant contributions of Ecke, forever to be known as the founding father of America’s poinsettia industry. The date of Dec. 12 was selected to mark the death of Poinsett, the man responsible for bringing the first poinsettia plant to our country.

Each region or family may have their own distinct common name for the poinsettia, such as euphorbia, Christmas flower or star of Bethlehem. Yet everyone recognizes the striking contrast between the plant’s lovely green leaves and the colorful bracts (modified leaves surrounding tiny flowers). Fewer may be aware that the reason the poinsettia turns red is due to a reaction caused by the short days and long nights of the approaching winter season.

To insure the proper care of specialty potted plants this holiday season, browse Extension Service articles found online and forward the relevant growing information onto those receiving the plants.

Kristi Hendricks is a graduate of Shepherd College and West Virginia University and a Master Gardener with the Virginia Cooperative Extension. She can be reached at belowthejames@yahoo.com.