With its brightly - coloured , star - forge bract , the Euphorbia pulcherrima is one of the most recognisable symbols of Christmas in the populace . We find it in supermarket , garden center of attention and florists , as well as emblazoned on Christmas cards and wrap paper . At once punk and cheerful , celebrated and cherished , it ’s perhaps not surprising that we have ferment this showy little shrub into a pet seasonal icon .
The painted leaf has descend a prospicient way from its Central American roots , where once it was used by the Aztecs to create purplish dyestuff and a handling for fevers . The USA ’s first ambassador to Mexico , Joel Robert Poinsett , first spot the plant ’s horticultural potential in 1828 . From his plantation in South Carolina his freshly discovered Mexican spurge found its direction to fabled works collector John Bartram , and thence into the hands of plantsman Robert Buist . Buist foresaw the poinsettia ’s commercial potential , and was plausibly the first to have sold them under their correct latin nameEuphorbia pulcherrima , meaning ‘ the most beautiful euphorbia ’ . Poinsettias were ab initio sold as cut flowers rather than plant life , which might storm and inspire today ’s florists . The Ecke family from Southern California were the first to offer them as pot plants , and they ’re still the main producer of poinsettias in the USA today .
Poinsettias are grow and pedal in their hundreds of millions every Christmas , destined to state of grace fireplaces , coffee board and windowsill for a few abbreviated days before being consigned to the ashbin . Few of us bother to keep them alive and fewer still know how to coax them into reflowering . Poinsettias will tolerate the heat in our plate , but any spell of coldness prior to that could be enough to pour down them . All that parry from the terrible wastefulness of zip and effort involved in nurturing a poinsettia is that it ’s a living matter , and therefore not considered ‘ scrap ’ in the same way as discarded wrapping paper or redneck talent . Never bear in mind that they are get as a monoculture in heated glasshouse and sprayed with chemicals to keep them healthy and compact , before being transport long distances in climate - controlled vehicles . An environmentally well-disposed choice they are sure not ! The National Farmers ’ Union recommends corrupt British to support UK grower and thereby reducing the distance works have to travel to accomplish your home .
Here are a few more tips if you want to keep your Mexican flameleaf seem lush and lively for longer :
If at first you do n’t deliver the goods , do n’t be too hard on yourself . The impairment was probably done before you purchase your plant life . 99 % of emptor only get by to keep their flora live for a few weeks , after which they have serve their function anyway . Should you be compulsive to join the 1 % who triumph in maintain a poinsettia from one year to the next , here ’s the advice offer by the Royal Horticultural Society :
You may by now have determine that there are respectable things to do with your life , for which you ’d be quickly forgiven . Reflowering a poinsettia is about as unrewarding as completing a tax return , even for the most enthusiastic environmentalist or light-green - finger horticulturalist . well to chuck it out and start again next year , or not bother at all . A poinsettia really is just for Christmas , not for lifespan . TFG .
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class : annual , Christmas , Flowers , House Plants , Trees and Shrubs
Posted by The Frustrated Gardener
