Some helpful Poinsettia facts for the season

Christmas is inching closer by the day and this means that it in just a few days we celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. After all, there would be no Christmas without the Christ! Also it means that it is time for another look at the lauded poinsettia-its history, trivia, and culture.

One of the most delightful aspects of Christmas is decorating. And one of the most practical ways to enhance our holiday décor is the use of poinsettias. Few plants are as showy as a bright, well-grown poinsettia.

Here are some interesting facts from the University of Illinois Extension Service about poinsettias you may find interesting.

Poinsettias are part of the Euphorbiaceae or spurge family. Botanically, the plant is known as Euphorbia pulcherrima. Poinsettias along with other plants in this family ooze a sticky, milky sap when their leaves or stems are broken.

Poinsettias are native to Mexico. They are found in the wild in deciduous tropical forests at moderate elevations from southern Sinaloa down the entire Pacific coast of Mexico.

Poinsettias received their name in the United States in honor of Joel Roberts Poinsett, who introduced the plant into this country in 1828. Poinsett was a botanist, physician and the first United States Ambassador to Mexico. He sent cuttings of the plant he had discovered in Southern Mexico to his home in Charleston, South Carolina, where he propagated them.

In Mexico, the poinsettia is a perennial shrub that will grow 10-15 feet tall. In nature, poinsettias are perennial flowering shrubs that were once considered weeds.

The showy colored parts of poinsettias that most people think of as the flowers are actually bracts (colored leaves). The yellow flowers, or cyathia, are found in the center of the colorful bracts.

The Aztecs reportedly used the poinsettia bracts to make a reddish purple dye for fabrics, and used the sap medicinally to control fevers.

There are scores of varieties of poinsettias available to growers today. They come in colors such as the traditional red (which comprise the overwhelming majority of sales), white, pink, burgundy, marble, yellow, green, and even speckled and splotchy.

Despite rumors to the contrary, poinsettias are not poisonous. A study at Ohio State University showed that a 50-pound child would have to eat more than a pound-and-a-quarter of poinsettia leaves (500 to 600 leaves) to have any side effects. The most common side effects that have been reported from poinsettia ingestions are upset stomach and vomiting. The leaves are reportedly not very tasty, so it’s highly unlikely that kids or even pets would be able to eat that many!

December 12th each year is National Poinsettia Day, which marks the death of Joel Roberts Poinsett in 1851.

California is the top U.S. poinsettia-producing state.

Poinsettias account for about one-quarter of flowering potted plant sales in the United States—over 34 million are sold each year!

About $60 million dollars’ worth of poinsettias are sold in the U.S. in the six-week period before Christmas.

Poinsettias are the best-selling potted plant in the United States and Canada.

The most common question people have about poinsettias is how to get them to rebloom in successive years.

Although every state in the United States grows poinsettias commercially, California is the top producer, followed by North Carolina and Texas. Florida and Ohio round out the top five.

Do you know the best way to prolong the life of a poinsettia? Avoid hot or cold drafts, keep the soil barely moist but not soggy, and place in a room with some natural light and temperatures of around 60 to 70 degrees F. Water when the soil begins to dry. Once the leaves wilt too far, it’s too late.

I hope you have enjoyed a closer look at the poinsettia, one of the standard-bearers of the Christmas season.

Tim Lewis is a Georgia Green Industry Association Certified Plant Professional, gardening writer, former Perry High School horticulture instructor, and former horticulturalist at Henderson Village and Houston Springs. He and his wife, Susan, own and operate Lewis Farms Nursery located on Hwy 26 two miles east of Elko, where he was born and raised. He can be reached at (478) 954-1507, timlewis1@windstream.net, or at LewisFarmsNursery.com.

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