While the shopping malls are being decked out with holiday decorations, Mother Nature is creating her own Christmas display. This beautiful poinsettia, which reaches the second floor, is in front of a home just a few blocks from my apartment.
city at night
Wednesday, November 15, 2017
Nature's Christmas Decoration
Its scientific name is "euphorbia pulcherima". In the United States we call it a poinsettia. It was named after Joel Poinsett, our first minister to the newly independent nation of Mexico. It was he who introduced the plant to the U. S. in 1825. In its native Mexico it is called "la flor de Nochebuena"... the Christmas Eve flower. It was used by the Aztecs for medicinal purposes and to make red dye. In colonial Mexico, Franciscan missionaries began to associate it with Christmas. The plant's star-shape configuration of leaves represented the Star of Bethlehem and its red color symbolized the blood of Jesus.
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Mine is just now getting its red brackets. It will be about two stories high this year. When I moved in here it was about five feet high.......I love them!
ReplyDeleteI gave up keeping poinsettia plants in the house and trying to get them to bloom again. I would go through the deal of putting them in a dark closet at night and all I would get is a few small red leaves.
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