poinsettia

poinsettia
/poyn set"ee euh, -set"euh/, n.
a plant, Euphorbia (Poinsettia) pulcherrima, of the spurge family, native to Mexico and Central America, having variously lobed leaves and brilliant scarlet, pink, or white petallike bracts.
[1830-40; < NL, named after J. R. Poinsett (1799-1851), American minister to Mexico, who discovered the plant there in 1828; see -IA]

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Popular flowering plant (Euphorbia pulcherrima), best-known member of the diverse spurge family.

Native to Mexico and Central America, it grows in moist, wet, wooded ravines and on rocky hillsides. What appear to be flower petals are actually coloured leaflike bracts that surround a central cluster of tiny yellow flowers. Cultivated varieties are available with white, pink, mottled, and striped bracts, but the solid red varieties are in greatest demand during the Christmas season. Milky latex in the stems and leaves can be irritating to sensitized persons or animals, but the claim that poinsettias are deadly poisonous is greatly exaggerated.

Poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima).

Grant Heilman-EB Inc.

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▪ plant
 (Euphorbia pulcherrima), best known member of the diverse spurge family, Euphorbiaceae. The poinsettia is native (Poinsett, Joel R) to Mexico and Central America, where it grows in moist, wet, wooded ravines and on rocky hillsides. It was named for Joel R. Poinsett, who popularized the plant and introduced it to floriculture while he was U.S. minister to Mexico in the late 1820s.

      In warm climates the poinsettia grows outdoors as a winter-flowering leggy shrub about 3 metres (10 feet) high; as a potted plant in northern areas it rarely grows beyond 1 metre. What appear to be petals are actually coloured 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.

      Cultivated varieties are available with white, pink, mottled, and striped bracts, but the solid red varieties, in several shades, remain in greatest demand during the Christmas season.

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • poinsettia — [ pwɛ̃setja ] n. m. • mil. XIXe; poinsettie 1836; de Poinsett, botaniste amér. ♦ Plante ornementale (euphorbiacées) à bractées rouges, roses ou blanches en bouquets. ● poinsettia nom masculin Euphorbe ornementale souvent cultivée dans les jardins …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Poinsettia — Poin*set ti*a (poin*s[e^]t t[i^]*[.a]), n. [NL. Named after Joel R. Poinsett of South Carolina.] (Bot.) A Mexican shrub ({Euphorbia pulcherrima}) with very large and conspicuous vermilion bracts below the yellowish flowers. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Poinsettĭa — (P. Grah.), Pflanzengattung aus der Familie der Euphorbiaceae, benannt nach M. Poisette, welcher Mexico bereiste; Art: P. pulcherrima, in Mexico, Strauch, bei uns im Warmhause; P. albida ist nur eine Varietät davon …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • poinsettia — (n.) genus name, 1836, Modern Latin, in recognition of Joel R. Poinsett (1779 1851), U.S. ambassador to Mexico, who is said to have brought the plant to the attention of botanists …   Etymology dictionary

  • poinsettia — ► NOUN ▪ a small shrub with large showy scarlet bracts surrounding the small yellow flowers. ORIGIN named after the American diplomat and botanist Joel R. Poinsett (1779 1851) …   English terms dictionary

  • poinsettia — ☆ poinsettia [poin set′ə, poinset′ē ə ] n. [ModL, after Joel R. Poinsett (1779 1851), U.S. ambassador to Mexico] a Mexican and Central American plant (Euphorbia pulcherrima) of the spurge family, with yellow flowers surrounded by tapering red… …   English World dictionary

  • Poinsettia — Poinsettia …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Poinsettia —    The poinsettia is a genus of tropical American herbs and woody plants with inconspicuous yellow leaves and tapering bright red flowers. Especially popular around Christmas, the plants were brought from Mexico to the United States by a South… …   Dictionary of eponyms

  • poinsettia — puošniausioji karpažolė statusas T sritis vardynas apibrėžtis Karpažolinių šeimos dekoratyvinis, vaistinis nuodingas augalas (Euphorbia pulcherrima), paplitęs Šiaurės ir Pietų Amerikoje. atitikmenys: lot. Euphorbia pulcherrima angl. Christmas… …   Lithuanian dictionary (lietuvių žodynas)

  • poinsettia — po·in·sèt·tia s.f. TS bot. pianta del sottogenere Poinsettia, erbacea, con infiorescenze disposte in cime circondate da vistose brattee vivacemente colorate, originaria del continente americano | con iniz. maiusc., in alcune classificazioni,… …   Dizionario italiano

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