Poinsettia Day

What the day is

Poinsettia Day is observed on December 12, the date Joel Roberts Poinsett died in 1851. He was the first United States minister to Mexico, an amateur botanist, and the man who sent the plant north in 1828.

Origin and background

The plant is native to Mexico and long predates its American name. The Aztecs knew it as cuetlaxochitl and used it for a reddish dye and in medicine. Its link to Christmas comes from Mexican tradition, where it became known as the flower of the Holy Night.

Two botanical points are worth knowing. The red parts are not petals but bracts, which are modified leaves, and the true flowers are the small yellow structures clustered at the center. The bracts turn red only in response to long nights, since the plant needs roughly fourteen hours of uninterrupted darkness over several weeks to color up. That is why plants kept as houseplants usually refuse to turn red the following year, and why commercial growers manage light so carefully.

The reputation for deadly toxicity is a myth, and a stubborn one, traced to a single unverified story from around 1919. Analyses of large numbers of reported ingestions have turned up no fatalities and, at worst, mild stomach upset. The milky sap can irritate skin and eyes, which is a reason for ordinary care rather than alarm, and anxious pet owners can relax considerably.

The commercial history is unexpectedly concentrated. One California family dominated American poinsettia production for decades, largely because they had worked out a technique that made the plants branch into the full bushy shape buyers expect rather than growing as a single stem.

How to take part

• Buy one and check the small yellow flowers at the center. Tight and unopened means a fresh plant.
• Keep it away from cold drafts and from heat sources, both of which make the leaves drop.
• Water when the surface is dry and never leave it standing in water, which is what actually kills most of them.
• Stop repeating the poison story. It frightens people needlessly every December.
• Try forcing it to color again next year if you enjoy a challenge, with genuinely uninterrupted darkness every night.