Happy Poinsettia Day!

December 12 is National Poinsettia Day. The poinsettia, a native of Central America and Mexico was named for Joel Roberts Poinsett,the first U.S. Ambassador to Mexico. Poinsett discovered the plants during a Christmas trip to Taxco, Mexico in 1828.

Ambassador Poinsett,a physician and botanist,was so charmed by the plant,known as Flores de Noche Buena(Flowers of The Holy Night), that he had several of them sent back to his home in South Carolina so he could grow them in his own greenhouses. For several years afterward he gave them to friends as Christmas presents.

By 1836 the plant had become a very popular Christmas plant in the United States and became known as the Poinsettia in his honor.

In 1851 Congress declared that December 12,the day of Poinsett's death, would be celebrated as Poinsettia Day in remembrance of the man who introduced this lovely plant to the American people.