More than eight million poinsettias are bought in Britain every year, but many people don’t realise that Christmas poinsettias are a tradition that began in Victorian times.
Where are poinsettias from?
Poinsettias come from Central America, principally an area of southern Mexico called Taxco de Alarcon.
Long before Christmas poinsettias became a tradition in Britain, the ancient Aztecs used the flowers, which they called cuetlaxochitl, to make dyes and cosmetics while the milky white sap was used to treat fever.
The flower’s latin name is “Euphorbia pulcherrima” which means “the most beautiful Euphorbia” – euphorbia being a large and diverse genus of flowering plants, commonly called spurge.
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When did poinsettias become a Christmas tradition in the UK?
The poinsettia as we know it today was popularised by Joel Roberts Poinsett who gave the flower its Westernised name. He took cuttings to his home in South Carolina and began cultivating the plants and exporting them to friends and botanical gardens around the world.
One of the biggest markets developed in Victorian England where the tradition for Christmas poinsettias has grown and grown.
The Christma poinsettia legend
Poinsettias have a long association with Christmas. There is a legend that a Mexican girl called Pepita had no gift to present to the baby Jesus at a church service on Christmas Eve.
Her cousin told her the smallest gift given by someone who loves him would make Jesus happy. So she picked a handful of weeds from the roadside and made them into a modest bouquet.
Legend says that when she knelt and placed the bouquet before the Nativity scene, the weeds burst into bright red blooms and the congregation believed they had witnessed a Christmas poinsettia miracle.
From that moment on, the flowers were known as the “Flores de Nochebuena” – “Flowers of the Holy Night”.
Poinsettias need 12 hours of darkness each day to remain in their prime, which makes them a perfect flowering shrub for Britain’s rather dark and gloomy midwinter. They are at their best in December and January. The vivid green foliage and striking red or brilliant white petals are the perfect colours for Christmas.
The Christmas poinsettia tradition has been enhanced as some have suggested the shape of the flower and leaves symbolise the Star of Bethlehem which guided the magi, the three wise men, to the birth of Jesus.
The red leaves are said to represent the blood of Christ and the white leaves his purity.
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