Pretty Poinsettias are Perfect for Holiday Decorating

The poinsettia, also known as the Mexican flame leaf or Christmas star, is a sub-tropical plant known for its striking red displays at Christmas time. It's often used as a floral Christmas decoration because of its festive colors, and what many think of as the plants petals are actually large leaves. Poinsettias are native to southern Mexico and Central America. They are named after Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first United States ambassador to Mexico, who introduced the plant in the U.S. in 1825. Poinsett was so impressed with the brilliant red color of the plant that he sent some home from Mexico to South Carolina, where they thrived in his greenhouse. Their leaves are thought to look much like the flaming Star of Bethlehem. In the United States they can be found out in the wild in both Hawaii and Puerto Rico.

Mexican legend tells how the poinsettia came to be a Christmas symbol. The story states that a child who could not afford a gift to offer to Christ on Christmas Eve picked some weeds from the side of a road. The child was told that a humble gift, if given in love, would be acceptable in God's eyes. When the child brought the weeds to the church they bloomed into red and green flowers and the congregation felt they had witnessed a Christmas miracle.

In the United States and perhaps elsewhere, there is a common misconception that poinsettias are toxic. This misconception was spread by a 1919 urban legend of a two-year-old child in Hawaii dying after consuming a poinsettia leaf. While it is true that the plant is not very toxic, those sensitive to latex may suffer an allergic reaction and it is therefore not advisable to bring the plants into the home of sensitive individuals. If eaten, poinsettias may cause diarrhea and vomiting in animals and humans. Its said that the taste of a poinsettia leaf is so bitter that its highly unlikely that either a human or animal could bear the taste long enough to eat enough of the plant to be poisonous.

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