The Legend of the Poinsettia, 2019

The legend of the poinsettia comes from Mexico. It tells of a girl named Maria and her little brother Pablo. They were very poor but always looked forward to the Christmas festival. Each year a large manger scene was set up in the village church, and the days before Christmas were filled with parades and parties. The two children loved Christmas, but were always saddened because they had no money to buy presents. They especially wished that they could give something to the church for the Baby Jesus. But they had nothing.

One Christmas Eve, Maria and Pablo set out for church to attend the service. On their way they picked some weeds growing along the roadside and decided to take them as their gift to the Baby Jesus in the manger scene. Of course they were teased by other children when they arrived with their gift, but they said nothing for they knew they had given what they could. Maria and Pablo began placing the green plants around the manger and miraculously, the green top leaves turned into bright red petals, and soon the manger was surrounded by beautiful star-like flowers and so we see them today.

The poinsettia was cultivated by the Aztecs of Mexico long before the introduction of Christianity to the Western Hemisphere. During the 17th century, Franciscan priests in Mexico began to use the flower in nativity processions because of its brilliant color and holiday bloom, A favorite flower in many countries with its beautiful red, star-shaped flower. It is called the "Flame Leaf" in Central America or "Flower of the Holy Night". Poinsettias were first introduced into the United States in 1825 by Joel Robert Poinsett, the first U.S. ambassador to Mexico. Poinsett, a skilled botanist, had some plants sent to his home in Greenville, S.C. After establishing the plants in his own greenhouse, he began to send them to various botanical gardens and fellow horticulturists.

They eventually reached Robert Buist, a nurseryman, who first sold the plant as Euphorbia poinsettia, although a German botanist had already given the plant the botanical name Euphorbia pulcherima. The poinsettia, however, remains the accepted name in English-speaking countries. Most of the poinsettias now come from California.