THe Legend and the History of the Poinsettia

flowers is the Poinsettia, with its bright
red or crisp white leaves, and deep green
stems. Poinsettias were first introduced
to the United States in 1825 by Joel Robert
Poinsett, amateur botanist and first
ambassador to Mexico. He introduced
the plant to the United States when he
brought some cuttings to his plantation
in Greenwood, South Carolina.
December 12 is National Poinsettia
Day, an official day set aside to enjoy
this symbol of holiday cheer. It was established
upon the death of Mr. Poinsett
to honor him and the plant he made famous.
He died in 1851.
Poinsettia plants are native to Central
America, especially an area of southern
Mexico known as ‘Taxco del Alarcon’
where they flower during the winter.
The ancient Aztecs called them ‘cuetlaxochitl’.
The Aztecs had many uses
for them including using the flowers
(actually special types of leaves known
as bracts rather than being flowers) to
make a purple dye for clothes and cosmetics
and the milky white sap was
made into a medicine to treat fevers.
(Today we call the sap latex!)
The poinsettia was made widely
known because of a man called Joel
Roberts Poinsett (that’s why we call
them Poinsettia!). He was the first Ambassador
from the USA to Mexico in
1825. Poinsett had some greenhouses
on his plantations in South Carolina,
and while visiting the Taco area in 1828,
he became very interested in the plants.
He immediately sent some of the plants
back to South Carolina, where he began
growing the plants and sending them to
friends and botanical gardens.
One of the friends he sent plants to
was John Barroom of Philadelphia, who
gave the plant to his friend, Robert Buist,
a plants-man from Pennsylvania. Robert
Buist
was probably
the
first person to have
sold the poinsettias under
their botanical, or latin
name, name ‘Euphorbia pulcherrima’ (it
means, ‘the most beautiful Euphorbia’).
It is thought that they became known
as Poinsettia in the mid 1830’s when
people found out who had first brought
them to America from Mexico.

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