The exotic poinsettia has become associated with Christmas\/ Fergus Collins explains why <\/p>
Amid fir trees, holly<\/a> and ivy, a more exotic plant has established itself among the\u00a0Christmas flora: the poinsettia. <\/strong><\/p> Given as a symbol of good will and communal spirit \u2013\u00a0particularly to hosts of Christmas parties\u00a0\u2013\u00a0the plant possesses excellent festive\u00a0credentials, having both red and green foliage. For some, it has come to represent the life of Christ \u2013 from the pointed bracts representing the Star of Bethlehem at his birth to the red leaves being Jesus’ blood, shed at his death.<\/p> The association with Christmas apparently comes from Mexico and Central America,\u00a0 where the plant is native to dry tropical forests. According to legend, a poor young girl\u00a0named Pepita was distraught at having nothing to offer baby Jesus on Christmas Eve. An\u00a0angel took pity on the weeping girl and pointed her towards some weeds. Pepita gathered an armful and presented them at the local church where they were miraculously transformed into a colourful bouquet of poinsettias.<\/p> The poinsettia takes its name from American diplomat and botanist Joel Roberts Poinsett (1779\u20131851). Widely travelled, Poinsett led an adventurous life and in 1825 was\u00a0ambassador to Mexico. Here he was able to indulge his botanist urges and ‘discovered’\u00a0the plants,\u00a0though they had been held in high esteem by indigenous peoples as far back\u00a0as the Mayans and Aztecs.<\/p> He sent specimens to his home in South Carolina and to\u00a0various other horticultural friends and soon the ‘poinsettia’,\u00a0as it was known by the 1830s, was widely propagated and celebrated at flower shows. Today, it is grown commercially in vast numbers, particularly in the state of Texas.\u00a0Taxonomists placed the plant in the genus Euphorbia, which also includes wood spurge that is native to the British countryside. \u00a0<\/p> The exotic poinsettia has become associated with Christmas\/ Fergus Collins explains why <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":42182,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2024\/12\/the-surprising-story-behind-the-christmas-poinsettias-rise-as-the-ultimate-festive-plant.jpg",2121,1414,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2024\/12\/the-surprising-story-behind-the-christmas-poinsettias-rise-as-the-ultimate-festive-plant-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2024\/12\/the-surprising-story-behind-the-christmas-poinsettias-rise-as-the-ultimate-festive-plant-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2024\/12\/the-surprising-story-behind-the-christmas-poinsettias-rise-as-the-ultimate-festive-plant-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2024\/12\/the-surprising-story-behind-the-christmas-poinsettias-rise-as-the-ultimate-festive-plant-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2024\/12\/the-surprising-story-behind-the-christmas-poinsettias-rise-as-the-ultimate-festive-plant-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2024\/12\/the-surprising-story-behind-the-christmas-poinsettias-rise-as-the-ultimate-festive-plant-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The exotic poinsettia has become associated with Christmas\/ Fergus Collins explains why","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/42181"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
How did the poinsettia become associated with Christmas?<\/h2>
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"