Euphorbia pulcherrima (poinsettia).

Euphorbia pulcherrima are extremely popular, and are practically ubiquitous around the holidays. The common name, poinsettia, is often mispronounced (pointsettia . . . poinsetta . . . ). They are named after Joel Poinsett, a US congressman and Secretary of War under Van Buren. Poinsett was also the US Minister to Mexico (where the poinsettia is native) and is responsible for introducing the plant to the US in the late 1820s. Euphorbia are part of the spurge family (Euphorbiaceae). Sap from spurges are purgatives, thus they make you espurge (Latin).

The following is a bit of a digression, but I find it interesting. The genus Euphorbia is named after Euphorbus, the personal physician of Juba II king of Numidia (Algeria and Tunisia) and then of Mauretania (western Algeria and Morocco, not to be confused with Mauritania the modern country). Juba II was married twice. Once to Cleopatra Selene II (the only daughter of Cleopatra) and then to Glaphyra a princess of Cappadocia (eastern Anatolia). Glaphyra was actually married to one of Herod's sons before Juba II but then later dumped Juba II for another one of Herod's sons. I guess she had a type. Anyway, Juba went on an exploration to the Canary Islands off of northwestern Africa. He allegedly named the islands Canaria (using the Latin word for dogs) because they found dogs on the island (which may actually have been a now-extinct type of monk seal). On the islands he documented a type of spurge which he later wrote a book about, titled Euporbia after his physician. The species name pulcherrima simply means beautiful in Latin. Ta-da!!!

We bought this poinsettia before Christmas in 2008 and we barely manage to keep it alive. The soil it is planted in (that it came with) does not retain water at all. It needs to be watered more often than I can can keep up with, so this chap is constantly wilted. It is also constantly dropping leaves, but it still manages to hold onto a reasonable amount of foliage. To get a poinsettia to flower, you need to put it in pitch-black dark at night for several months. I didn't learn that trick until late November last year so I haven't had the opportunity to try it out. Maybe we will in 2010.

Poinsettia flowers are small and yellow, and are surrounded by the bright red bracts (leaves) that people often confuse with the flower (bougainvillea bracts are similarly confused with their flowers). I was surprised to learn that the association of poinsettias with Christmas is an old tradition dating back to the 16th century in Mexico. They became popularized in the 17th century when Franciscan friars began using poinsettias in nativity scenes.

It is a common misconception that poinsettias are poisonous. I'm not a particular fan of these plants, especially since I learned they aren't toxic, but the leaves are attractive and I think my wife would get upset if I left it on the street corner.