Like Christmas trees, Santa and reindeer, the poinsettia has long been a ubiquitous symbol of the holiday season in the U.S. and Europe. But nearly 200 years after the plant with the bright crimson leaves was introduced north of the Rio Grande, attention is once again turning to the poinsettia’s origins and the checkered history of its namesake. The name “poinsettia” comes from the amateur botanist and statesman Joel Roberts Poinsett, who happened upon the plant during his tenure as the first U.S. minister to a newly independent Mexico. Year-end holiday markets in Latin America brim with the potted plant known in Spanish as the “flower of Christmas Eve.”
