Native to Mexico, poinsettia varieties are often used as decor during the holiday season. At one time, there was only one variety of poinsettia plants available, a solid brilliant red, but today there are many different types of poinsettia plants of varying colors and sizes.
These various types of poinsettias have been created due to demand and fashion fluxes resulting in spotted, pink, dwarf, bush and even tree poinsettia plant varieties. Keep reading to learn about the basics of poinsettia care and the many poinsettia varieties you can use to decorate your home during the holidays.
Beautiful Poinsettia Varieties
Their Latin name Euphorbia pulcherrima means ‘most beautiful,’ and they are beautiful indeed! The newer cultivars come in various hues of orange, rose, pink, yellow and ecru and may be mottled or solid in color. Their form may be dwarf, bush or even tree.
As to the varieties, well, poinsettias come in over 100 varieties. ‘Orange Spice’ is a poinsettia with long orange bracts, ‘Ice Punch’ has red and white lightening banding, ‘Cinnamon Star’ has both orange and peach bracts accented with rosy hued edges, and ‘Plum Pudding’ is the first poinsettia with purple bracts!
‘Prestige Red’ is the classic red poinsettia most of us are familiar with. ‘Winter Rose Early Red’ is a poinsettia with bracts clustered together reminiscent of a rose in bloom and ‘Jingle Bells’ bracts have light pink and white splashes of color.
Not only is there a wide variety of poinsettia colors and sizes, but they are also categorized by their bloom time. For instance, early season plants begin flowering during the first week of September, mid-season during the second and third week of September and late season by the last week of September or first week of October.
This information is not likely to influence your selection unless you’re a poinsettia cultivator but it may explain why some varieties are finished “blooming” earlier than others.
About Poinsettias
Poinsettias are members of the family Euphorbia prized for their colorful bracts or modified leaves. Used by the Aztecs both medicinally and as dye plants, Franciscan priests were said to have used the colorful plants in the seventeenth century during Advent to decorate their Nativity scene. Their popularity spread throughout Mexico where it became a yule tradition. The plants were brought to the USA by the U.S. ambassador to Mexico around 1825.
In the wild, poinsettias can reach heights of up to 12-15 feet (3.5-4.5 m)! Over the course of many years, plants were hybridized by selecting shorter, stockier specimens that fit the confines of a house and which would retain their colorful bracts for longer. Thus it wasn’t until 1920 that poinsettias were developed to the extent that they would thrive as houseplants.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many kinds of poinsettias are there?
There are more than 100 varieties of poinsettia of varying shades of orange, pink, dusty rose, white and yellow. There are even poinsettia trees and shrubs, although they are difficult to source as they are also difficult to ship.
What is the life expectancy of a poinsettia plant?
Many people buy a poinsettia before the Christmas holiday and then throw it out after the first of the year but if cared for properly, the plant can actually last into the spring and can even live for up to 10-20 years! To extend the life of your poinsettia, place it outside during the summer and then bring it inside before the first frost.
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