Everybody loves a bit of color during the holidays! Spice things up around your house with a #Poinsettia. The #Poinsettia is particularly well known for its red and green foliage and is widely used in Christmas floral displays.
Did You Know??
- Poinsettias are not poisonous. A study at Ohio State University showed that a 50-pound child would have to eat more than 500 leaves to have any harmful effect. Plus poinsettia leaves have an awful taste. You might want to keep your pets from snacking on poinsettia leaves. Eating the leaves can cause vomiting and diarrhea.
- The showy colored parts of poinsettias that most people think of as the flowers are actually colored bracts (modified leaves).
- Poinsettias have also been called the lobster flower and the flame-leaf flower, due to the red color.
- Joel Roberts Poinsett introduced the poinsettia plant to the United States from Mexico. Poinsett was a botanist, physician and the first United States Ambassador to Mexico.
- In Mexico the poinsettia is a perennial shrub that will grow 10-15 feet tall.
There are more than 100 varieties of poinsettias available today. Poinsettias come in colors like the traditional red, white, pink, burgundy, marbled and speckled.- The Paul Ecke Ranch in California grows over 70% of all Poinsettias purchased in the United States and does about 50% of the world-wide sales of Poinsettias.
- December 12th is Poinsettia Day, which marks the death of Joel Roberts Poinsett in 1851.
