Poinsettias were attached to Christmas starting in 1828. Joel Roberts Poinsett was the first U.S. ambassador to Mexico, imported the plant from Mexico. In warm climates, the poinsettia grows outdoors as a winter-flowering leggy shrub about 10 feet high. As a potted plant in northern areas they rarely grow more than 3 feet high. What appear to be petals are actually colored leaflike bracts that surround a central cluster of tiny yellow flowers. A milky latex in the stems and leaves can be irritating to persons or animals sensitive to it. but the claim that poinsettias are deadly poisonous is greatly exaggerated.
