Poinsettias are indisputably an iconic plant of Christmas, but where did they come from?
And why are they so beloved in the U.S. and around the world?
Each year more than 70 million poinsettias are sold nationwide, contributing $250 million to the nations economy.
Credit:Adam Albright
Thats an amazing amount considering the market for poinsettias is only about six weeks long.
What explains poinsettias appeal?
Poinsettias are native to Guatemala and areas of Southwestern Mexico, where they are tropical shrubs.
Credit: Jason Donnelly
In their natural habitats, wild poinsettias grow to be 10- to 15-foot trees.
These colorful bracts surround the poinsettias true blooms,small yellow flowersthat appear to be the red blooms center.
The plant was cultivated by the Aztecs centuries before the European colonization of the Americas.
Credit:Carson Downing
The Aztecs called the plant cuetlaxochitl (kwet-la-sho-she) and used it to make dyes and medicines.
Cuetlaxochitl blooms were also used as offerings in religious ceremonies.
Friars began using theblooms to decorate Nativity scenes in southwestern Mexican cities.
In desperation she grabbed a handful of green weeds on her way to the church.
She placed the weeds on the manger and prayed.
When she opened her eyes, there was a flaming red star topping every weed stem.
Outside, after the mass, all the weeds in town were topped with red stars.
Those weeds were poinsettias.
The stars were their red flowers.
Catholic churches around the globe followed suit.
The ancient Aztec plant had become anglicized.
Then a German immigrant, Albert Ecke, began growing poinsettias commercially in southern California in 1909.
Ecke wisely saw an opening for selling flowers thatbloomed in the winter.
Poinsettias Today
Questions have been raised about what to call poinsettias.
Buist, Robert (1805-1880).
Accessed November 8, 2024. https://www.sil.si.edu/silpublications/seeds/buistrobert.html.
Tucker N. Poinsettia: How a U.S. diplomat made a Mexican flower an international favorite: Timeless.
The Library of Congress.
December 22, 2021.
What to call poinsettia.
Elisabeth C. Miller Library.
