Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Mexico-United States Christmas Tale: From Nochebuena—"Christmas Eve" Flower—to Poinsettia

Photo: Notimex
Excelsior/Notimex
With added information from Mexico Voices

The Nochebuena [literally, "Good Night"], "Christmas Eve" flower, or poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima) is native to Mexico.  This shrub, capable of growing up to fifteen feet tall (!), can be found in tropical deciduous forests in moderate elevations along Mexico's Pacific Coast south to Guatemala and in some hot, seasonally dry forests in the country's interior.

With its dark green, serrated leaves and upper leaves of red, yellow or marbled with white, the Nochebuena-Poinsettia has become one of the most ubiquitous symbols of Christmas. In various parts of the world it is known as Christmas Star.


The shrubs can grow to 15'
Photo: Mexico Voices
It has a pre-Hispanic heritage. The Náhuatl name is cuetlaxochitl [kuet-la-sóch-itl], which means "leather flower". The Aztecs used the plant in rituals as a symbol of purity and new life for warriors, and they made offerings of it to the Sun to renew its strength.

In colonial times, because of its appearance at Christmastime, the Spanish named the plant "Nochebuena", the Spanish name for Christmas Eve. Beginning in the seventeenth century, the plant became a symbol of the holidays.

The tradition of decorating homes with Nochebuena comes from the U.S. In 1828, Joel Robert Poinsett, the first U.S. minister to Mexico, who was also a physician and amateur botanist, was impressed by its beauty and sent a few plants home.

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Joel Robert Poinsett
Wikipedia 
But it was not until 1909, that the family of Albert Ecke began to cultivate the plant commercially in California, undertaking its controlled breeding and production. The family patented the flower under the name poinsettia. They produced plants of various colors and foliage, each of which they patented, thus controlling a virtual market monopoly into the 1990s.

In Mexico, the Aztecs used parts of the flower to create reddish purple dye for textiles and for medicine. According to the Atlas of Mexican Plants for Traditional Medicine of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), it has many medicinal uses related to skin disorders, female ailments and inflammatory processes.

According to information from the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (SAGARPA), Mexico ranks fourth worldwide in cultivated area, and at least 300 hectares [741 acres] are dedicated to growing potted poinsettia plants. The main states where it is cultivated are Morelos, Michoacán, Mexico City, Puebla, State of Mexico, Jalisco, Veracruz, Querétaro, Guanajuato, Chiapas and Guerrero... Spanish original

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