Poinsettia Day Dec 12, 2023

Poinsettia Day

During the holiday season, poinsettias brighten up homes in suitably festive coloring, serving as symbols of goodwill. December 12 marks National Poinsettia Day, a special occasion to celebrate this holiday favorite. The plant was introduced to the US by Joel Roberts Poinsett, a botanist and former minister to Mexico who died on this day in 1851. Poinsettias can be found growing in the wild from Mexico to Guatemala. The ancestors of the modern, commercially available version have been traced to the Mexican state of Guerrero. The crimson-leaved plant was used by the Aztecs as a red dye and as a fever-reducing medicine.

© Yarygin/Getty Images

palette

Today in History

Dec 12, 2018The story of the poinsettia
Dec 12, 2019On the lookout for Sheep-Cote Clod
Dec 12, 2020What are we looking at?
Dec 12, 2021Wicker fields in Cañamares, Spain
Dec 12, 2022Poinsettia Day

More Desktop Wallpapers:

Dec 26, 2022Boxing Day in East Yorkshire, England
Nov 1, 2018Celebrating the Day of the Dead
Apr 24, 2024White trilliums blooming in Ontario, Canada
Jul 11, 2023World Population Day
Sep 22, 2019Barcelona bids farewell to summer
Jul 3, 2023The dog days of summer
Oct 13, 2018‘Hello’ from zero degrees longitude
Mar 2, 2024Modica, Sicily, Italy
Sep 14, 2020Tiny fliers head south
Aug 14, 2018Combating extinction with citizen science
Jul 1, 2021Celebrating migrations
Jan 20, 2022Penguin Awareness Day
Feb 14, 2018Aerial view of a heart-shaped field in Trittau, Germany
Dec 21, 2021Winter solstice
Jun 14, 2021A Flag Day tradition
Dec 29, 2019Helloooooo, Innsbruck
Apr 10, 2023Siblings Day
Nov 2, 2021Day of the Dead
Feb 19, 2020Flocking together in the Antarctic
Oct 16, 2020It s harvest time on World Food Day
Feb 17, 2018Infant Sumatran orangutan, Indonesia
Sep 30, 2019Wheels up in Beijing
Dec 6, 2021Computer Science EDU Week
Jul 7, 2019Traffic jam on the caribou highway
Sep 20, 2021Birds of a feather flocking together
Nov 26, 2021Native American Heritage Day
Jul 2, 2018Keep watching the skies
Nov 23, 2020Autumn comes to Old Town
Apr 15, 2021Jackie Robinson Day
May 6, 2020The (Inca) empire strikes back