Poinsettia Day

The windstorm was pretty bad in other parts of the city, but it just got a little breezy here last night. I gave my poor old eyes a sabbatical from computer screens yesterday, but I'm back in time for National Poinsettia Day, one of the few whacky holidays officially declared by an Act of Congress.

The poinsettia is native to Mexico and National Poinsettia Day is in honor of  Joel Roberts Poinsett, who died on December 12, 1851. Poinsett was the first Ambassador to Mexico.  I think the world might be a better place today if more foreign statesmen were also amateur botanists.  Poinsett shipped some cuttings back to his plantation in Charleston and gave them out as gifts to friends. 

Since then, both the wild types and the cultivars have spread throughout the tropical world.  Albert Ecke emigrated from Germany to California in 1900 and he became fascinated with poinsettias and sold them from street stands. His grandson was eventually responsible for making the association between the plant and Christmas. He sent free plants to television stations in Hollywood to display from Thanksgiving to Christmas, and appeared on Christmas specials to promote the plants.

A wild poinsettia has a somewhat weedy look, but for years the Ecke family had a virtual monopoly  on poinsettia growing owing to their secret technique that produced fuller, more compact plants.

In another lifetime I worked as a florist, and must have made thousands of bows for potted poinsettias at Christmas.  There is a common misconception that poinsettias are deadly poisonous, and customers believed a single leaf would kill poor kitty. Nothing could convince them otherwise and it's one of the more enduring urban legends.  I don't recommend putting them in salad, but the ancient Aztecs actually used poinsettia sap for medicinal purposes.

It wouldn't be Christmas without them.