Poinsettia: The Christmas flower

The “petals” of poinsettia are modified leaves. — Maia C/Creative Commons

What could be more familiar than the ubiquitous Christmas poinsettia?

You can scarcely go anywhere at this time of year without stumbling over a poinsettia or two displayed on the mantel, presiding over the buffet table or waiting by the door to greet guests as they enter. But common as they are, these plants have never inspired the same kind of aversion that greets other over-used holiday icons — fruitcake, for instance.

For my money, poinsettias are a better buy than the fall flower-of-the-season, the chrysanthemum. While you’re lucky if you get three weeks out of those perky mums, poinsettias go on and on, and will probably still be hanging around through Groundhog Day. Maybe even through St. Patrick’s Day. Possibly beyond.

The story of the poinsettia involves both international diplomacy and Hollywood hype; how many other plants hit those highlights?

Theses plants are natives of Mexico, specifically the Taxco region south of Mexico City, where they can achieve heights of five feet or more. It was the United State’s ambassador to Mexico, Joel Robert Poinsett, who in 1825 next took a hand in the flower’s fate. (Poinsett would later found the organization that grew into the Smithsonian Institution.) He shipped specimens to his plantation in South Carolina, grew them successfully and began giving them away to friends.

It wasn’t until 1920 that the poinsettia fad began in California. The poinsettia’s commercially appropriate yearly bloom cycle, which peaks at the end of the calendar year, was what made it attractive to Albert Ecke and his son Paul.

At their ranch in Encinitas, they began propagating in earnest, initially selling their wares at roadside stands in Hollywood and Beverly Hills. The poinsettia was a hit, all the more so because Paul began traveling nationwide, touting the virtues of this eminently salable plant.

Greenhouse-grown poinsettias. — gurdonark/Creative Commons

Between 1923 and the mid-60s, the Ecke ranch supplied field-grown "mother plants" to growers across the country, who in turn raised individual holiday pots. To this day, the Ecke outfit supplies young cuttings to 80 percent of the American market — which makes the poinsettia a wildly successful venture.

Botanically, poinsettias are a member of the euphorbia family, which typically includes plants that sport colorful bracts outshining their inconspicuous "true" flowers (on poinsettias, those funny little yellow-green nubs at the center). Like many of the clan, the poinsettia produces a toxic milky sap that can be dangerous to pets and small children.

You can prolong the useful life of your poinsettia by giving it six hours or so of indirect light, watering only when the surface soil feels dry and protecting it from both freezing temperatures and from indoor heat exceeding 70 degrees. Overwatering is the most common cause of premature death — they’ll probably go the distance without overly fussy care.

As for getting the plants to flower again, good luck with that. You can cut the stems back after the red bracts fade and you’ll probably get lots of green growth. But bloom is triggered only by extremely specific control of light reaching the plant.

To get the red "flower" in time for Christmas, you must provide (beginning Oct. 1) 14 continuous hours of complete darkness every night alternating with six to eight hours of sunlight. Which means you have to be prepared to race home and pop that puppy into the closet at about tea time every single day.

This is a hobby for people with time on their hands. Perhaps you have something better to do — like finding a permanent home for that unwanted fruitcake.