Move over, mistletoe. The holiday season is here, and cheerful poinsettias are popping up everywhere you look. In fact, poinsettias are America’s No. 1 selling potted plant, contributing a whopping $250 million to our nation’s economy annually – even though the market for them is only about six weeks long.
Many FFA chapters sell poinsettias this time of year, and buyers are always eager to incorporate the bright, showy plants into their holiday decor. Read on for eight interesting tidbits about this popular holiday plant.
- Poinsettias are native to Mexico. The ancient Aztecs used poinsettias to make red dye, and they turned to poinsettia sap to control fevers.
- Contrary to popular belief, poinsettias are not poisonous. While some humans and pets are sensitive to the plant’s milky white sap, which contains latex, it is not toxic. It can, however, cause irritation to the skin, eyes, mucus membranes or digestive system (if consumed).
- Poinsettias aren’t always red. The plant is grown in more than 100 varieties including shades of white, cream, pink, purple, orange and yellow. There are also marble and bicolor varieties.
- The showy, colorful part of the poinsettia isn’t a flower – it’s a modified leaf. The poinsettia’s modified leaves (called bracts) are often mistaken for the flower. Actually, the small yellow flowers (called cyathium) can be found clustered in the center of the bracts.
- Poinsettias need both sunshine and dark nights to bloom. The shorter days and longer nights of late fall and early winter are what cause poinsettias to bloom this time of year. If they are planted near artificial light, such as a streetlamp, it disrupts their blooming cycle.
- December 12 is National Poinsettia Day. The date marks the death of Joel Roberts Poinsett, the South Carolina congressman credited with bringing the poinsettia to the United States from Mexico. The U.S. House of Representatives passed a measure recognizing National Poinsettia Day in 2002.
- California is the top poinsettia-producing state. Poinsettias are commercially grown in all 50 states. Other top poinsettia-producing states include North Carolina, Texas, Florida and Ohio.
- Poinsettias can grow up to 15 feet tall. In their native tropical environment in Mexico and Central America, poinsettias are a perennial woody shrub that grows as high as 10 to 15 feet tall – more like a small tree than a houseplant.
To learn more about how plants impact our world, visit AgExplorer.ffa.org and click on Plant Systems.
Photography: Steve Terrill, Getty Images
