by CHRIS WINSLOW
No Christmas decorations for a home are complete without the poinsettia.
This colorful plant (Euphorbia pulcherrima) is native to southern Mexico and Central America, and was used as a fever medicine by the ancient Aztecs.
It is known as noche buena in Mexico, and would have stayed in the jungle if it wasn’t for the efforts of Joel Roberts Poinsett (1770-1851), the first U.S. ambassador to Mexico.
Poinsett was an amateur botanist. One day in 1828 the ambassador decided to bring this lovely plant back to his home in South Carolina. Here he started propagating the “poinsettia” and sent some plants to friends and colleagues around the country.
The poinsettia’s leaves and stems grow when the days grow long and begin to bloom as the days become short in the fall.
The flowering part consists of large colored leaves, called bracts, and the cyanthia flowers.
In the native plant, the bracts and flowers are quite small. Thanks to hybridization, the colorful leaves of the modern poinsettia have become much larger, and you now have a multitude of colors to choose from.
We have poinsettia varieties with names like angelica, jingle belles, celebrate, V-14 glory, freedom and subjibe.
While the most popular color for the Christmas season is red, other colors such as pink, salmon, white and bicolor are available.
This plant is pretty easy to care for: Put it in a well-lit location, and give it some water when it’s dry.
Avoid leaving its roots standing in water. (It will die.) Ideal temperatures are a 70 degree day and a slightly cooler night. If it gets too hot, its bloom time will be shortened.
Come springtime, you can keep your poinsettia as a potted plant, or plant it outside in a very protected, sunny location. With any luck, and with a very late cold spell in the fall, you might get a few blooms.
Americans buy over 75 million poinsettias during the holiday season, making them the best-selling potted plant in the country.
I’m often asked if they are poisonous. From what I have read, poinsettias are not toxic. A study from Ohio State University showed that a 50-pound child eating 500 leaves might get a slight tummy ache. The American Society of Florists has stated that no other plant has been tested more than poinsettias. Happy gardening everyone!
If you have a gardening question, send it to me via email: [email protected]. (Please put ‘Ask Chris Winslow’ in the subject line.) Or mail your letter or postcard to: Ask Chris Winslow. It’s About Thyme: 11726 Manchaca Road, Austin, TX 78748
