Mexico

Poinsettias get their American name from Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first U.S. ambassador to Mexico, who brought them to the states from Mexico in the early 1800s. They didn’t become traditional holiday decorations until the entrepreneurial Ecke family started promoting them a century later.

Poinsettia is a flowering plant. The whole plant and its sap (latex) are used to make medicine. Despite safety concerns, people take poinsettia to treat fever, stimulate breast milk production, and cause an abortion. They also take the latex for pain, to kill bacteria, and to cause vomiting.

Crimson blossoms sprouted from the weeds and became poinsettias. From the 17th century, Franciscan friars in Mexico included the plants in their Christmas celebrations. The star-shaped leaf pattern is said to symbolize the Star of Bethlehem, and the red color represents the blood sacrifice of Jesus’s crucifixion.

Toxicity to pets Though they have a bad rap, poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima) plants are only mildly toxic to cats and dogs. The milky white sap found in poinsettias contains chemicals called diterpenoid euphorbol esters and saponin-like detergents.

If your dog has ingested any part of the poinsettia plant, call your veterinarian immediately. In many cases, Poinsettia plant poisoning is mild to moderate and not life-threatening. However, veterinary treatment is crucial.

Poinsettia plants are less toxic than once believed. In most cases, poinsettia exposure causes only discomfort, including: A mild, itchy rash. Skin contact with the sap of a poinsettia plant can cause a rash.

“Despite persistent rumors, poinsettias are not poisonous. Ohio State University testing has found that a 50-pound child could eat more than 500 poinsettia bracts with no ill effects other than possibly a sick stomach from eating that much foliage.”

Direct contact with the white, milky sap from a broken poinsettia leaf, or from pruning the plant, can trigger an allergic reaction within minutes. Symptoms can include rash, hives, sneezing, coughing, tightness in the throat and difficulty breathing; in rare instances, the reaction could be life-threatening.

As a member of the spurge family (Euphorbiaceae) poinsettias have a milky sap. This latex helps conserve moisture within the plant and deters animals and insects from eating the plant, since the latex is bitter and toxic if eaten in large doses. If your potted poinsettia bleeds white sap, it has sustained an injury.

Although every state in the United States grows poinsettias commercially, California is the top producer with over 6 million pots grown, followed by North Carolina with 4.4 million pots sold, and Texas with about 3.7million. Florida and Ohio round out the top 5, each with over 3 million poinsettias sold. Fact 5.

Move to a colder place where the temperature never goes over 60 degrees and out of sunlight. Keep it indoors if you live in dry and hot areas of the country. Sometime in May, repot the poinsettia in a bigger container. Cut all the stems down to about four inches.

To coax a poinsettia plant to bloom again, it’s necessary to repeat the poinsettia life cycle. After the holidays and once blooming has ceased, limit the amount of watering so the plant can go dormant until spring. Then, usually around March or April, regular watering can be resumed and fertilizing can begin.

How to care for poinsettias year round

1. Light: Sunny, an exposure with bright light.
2. Temperature: Warm, ideally 65-75 degrees during the day, about 60 degrees at night.
3. Water: Water whenever the surface of the soil is dry.
4. To keep poinsettias:
5. January to March: Allow the plant to continue to grow in bright light with regular watering.

Water the poinsettia when the pot becomes lightweight or when the soil becomes dry to the touch, about once a week. Water the plant thoroughly in a sink, letting it drain, before putting it back where it was.