CAES Newswire

 College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences UGA Cooperative Extension
Menu
Published on 11/25/15

Poinsettias, once used for dyes and medicine, are now America's best-selling houseplant

By Merritt Melancon

Because of their popularity as holiday decorations, poinsettias are the best-selling potted plants in the United States. Here are some facts and history about America’s favorite houseplant:

  • Poinsettias come in many colors, including scarlet, ivory, pink and mauve. The colorful part that we might consider the poinsettia flower is actually a collection of colored leaves called “bracts.” The plant’s true flower is the tiny, yellow bloom in the middle of the bract, called a “cyathium.”
  • Poinsettias are not poisonous. Numerous studies have been conducted on poinsettia toxicity, and according to the “American Medical Association Handbook of Poisonous and Injurious Plants,” other than occasional cases of vomiting, ingestion of the poinsettia plant has been found to produce no harmful effects.
  • Poinsettias were initially propagated from wild plants in central Mexico. The Aztecs used the ancestral version of today’s poinsettias to dye fabric and used the plant’s sap as a remedy for fevers.
  • The poinsettia is named for Joel Roberts Poinsett, a native of Charleston, South Carolina. A doctor, soldier and amateur botanist, he was serving as the U.S. ambassador to Mexico in 1828 when he sent the first poinsettia clippings back to gardener friends in the U.S. He went on to help found what would become the Smithsonian Institution before his death in 1851.
  • Pennsylvania nurseryman John Bartram is credited as being the first person to sell poinsettias under their botanical name, Euphorbia pulcherrima. The plants were renamed in the mid-19th century to honor Poinsett.
  • Greenhouse producers grew about 33.2 million poinsettias, worth about $141 million, in 2014, according the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service.
  • California and North Carolina top the nation in poinsettia production, growing 6.7 million and 4.6 million plants per year, respectively, but Georgia growers also turn out hundreds of thousands of poinsettias each year.

(Information for this list came from University of Illinois Cooperative Extension’s "Poinsettia Pages" at extension.illinois.edu/poinsettia and from the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service.)

Merritt Melancon, a public relations manager for the UGA Terry College of Business, previously served as a public relations coordinator for the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and UGA Extension.

Authors:
Merritt Melancon
Experts/Sources:
Paul A. Thomas
Red poinsettias with white poinsettias in the background. A variety of poinsettias.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
Download Image
HurricaneHeleneGreenhouseDamageCropped CAES News
UGA Extension supports resilience in Georgia farm communities after Hurricane Helene 12/19/24 Emily Cabrera
Hurricane Helene wrought sweeping devastation across Georgia’s agricultural sector in late September, leaving an indelible mark on both the land and the people who tend it, bringing focus to vulnerabilities in Georgia’s farming industry and the need for more robust safety nets. In addition to the physical destruction, the hurricane took an emotional toll on Georgia’s farmers. In response, UGA Extension has prioritized mental health support.
University of Georgia startup CytoNest Inc. released its first commercial product this year, a fiber scaffold that optimizes cell manufacturing and tissue engineering. (Photo by Lauren Corcino) CAES News
UGA again ranks No. 1 in new research-based products 11/04/24 Brandon Ward
The University of Georgia once again ranks No. 1 among U.S. universities for the number of commercial products to market based on its research, according to an annual survey conducted by AUTM. For nine straight years, UGA has placed in the top two and has never appeared out of the Top 5 in the 11 years the survey has been reported by AUTM. UGA industry partners and startups released a record 66 new products developed from the university’s research in fiscal year 2023, on which the AUTM report is based.
Combining data collection and analysis with plant pathology, precision agriculture and robotics, the UGA team will build a photographic library of the foliar symptoms caused by onion diseases and other physiological disorders, feed them into the AI software, and use machine learning to identify the diseases based on pattern and color recognition from the images. CAES News
UGA uses AI, robotics to improve Georgia’s Vidalia sweet onion crop 10/23/24 Jordan Powers
A multidisciplinary team of UGA researchers aims to enhance the competitiveness of Vidalia onion growers in Georgia by providing them with the ability to confidently detect onion diseases early, enabling them to make management decisions on their crop at a critical time. These abilities, researchers say, should result in increased yield and quality of marketable onions and an overall increase in efficiency and productivity.
Associate Professor Rhuanito Ferrarezi poses with a Gerber daisy grown by students in his 4050/6050 Greenhouse Management class in fall 2023. CAES News
Upcoming UGA plant sales bring color to fall 10/15/24 Maria M. Lameiras
Fall weather means fall gardening, and several groups at the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences will be offering the fruits of their labors at ornamental plant sales across campus this semester. On Friday, Oct. 18, the Trial Gardens at University of Georgia will hold its annual Fall Houseplant Sale, and on Wednesday, Nov. 20, greenhouse management students will offer their ornamental plant sale at the South Milledge Greenhouse Complex.
Although it may not fit the traditional image of a well-kept lawn, this landscape is the result of careful planning and a deep commitment to ecological stewardship. CAES News
Done with mowing? How to transform your lawn into a native, perennial landscape 09/12/24 Emily Cabrera
On a tour of her Blairsville, Georgia, home, Becky Griffin navigates a swaying maze of perennial grasses interspersed with pussy willows, switchgrass and boneset. Although it may not fit the traditional image of a well-kept lawn, this landscape is the result of careful planning and a deep commitment to ecological stewardship. As a native plant enthusiast and coordinator of the Great Southeast Pollinator Census, Griffin hand-selected each of these native plants for the countless ecological services they provide year-round.
Dooley Field at Sanford Stadium CAES News
Keep on the grass 08/29/24 Emily Cabrera, Scott Michaux
When the University of Georgia Bulldogs step between the hedges at Sanford Stadium, the grass on Dooley Field needs to look perfect. More importantly, though, it needs to help safeguard the health of athletes who compete on it. Gerald Henry plays a big role in the latter. The UGA Athletic Association’s endowed professor in environmental turfgrass leads a research team in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences committed to creating sports fields that look good and perform well to limit the occurrence of injuries.