Saturday, December 18, 2010

Poinsetta Myth and Legend



This beautiful flower originated in Mexico. Around it myths and legend abound.
The myth that has recently been busted is that they're poisonous. Until just a few days ago, I thought they were poisonous. In fact, you can still find them listed on some animal poison lists. If an animal ingests a whole plant it can make them sick but its not fatal. The label of poisonous originated when a young girl was misdiagnosed with poisoning from a poinsettia in 1919.
The poinsettia was named for Mr. Joel Poinsett, an ambassador to Mexico, who was quite taken with the plants and sent them to his greenhouse in South Carolina.
Legend has it that a poor child had nothing to give Christ on his birthday but a bouquet of weeds and when he approached the altar the weeds were transformed into brilliant crimson blooms.
The Aztecs used the leaves for dye.
And today...we give them to friends to let them know we care and place them on our mantel and marvel at their beauty.
Happy Holidays.

Don't forget the great blogs at Amarinda Jones, Julia Barrett and Molly Daniels

4 comments:

Unknown said...

well, there you go...the things you find out on your blog.

Julia Rachel Barrett said...

I read this article too - I always thought they were poisonous. Wonder how you extract the dye? Interesting and beautiful!

Molly Daniels said...

I thought they were only poisonous to dogs and cats...

I'd heart of the Christmas tale, but not the origin:) Merry Christmas Sandra!

anny cook said...

Wonderful post! Thanks for sharing that info!

Merry Christmas!