Advent Calendar
The Mexican Star
Green and red are the symbolic colors of Christmas - the poinsettia bears both colors. Perhaps that is why it is one of the most popular potted plants of all. The home of the poinsettia is Central and South America, from where Alexander von Humboldt brought it to Europe in 1804. In the Ecological-Botanical Garden of the University of Bayreuth, there is a flowering poinsettia in the dry forest house.
The large, colorful bracts are what make the poinsettia the most popular potted plant worldwide. Poinsettias, as the plants are also called, are short-day plants, meaning they bloom when the days are shorter than 12 hours for several weeks. To make poinsettias bloom exactly at Advent, nurseries in Central Europe artificially shorten the day starting in October.
In its native country (Mexico to Argentina), the poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima, spurge family) becomes a shrub several meters tall, often blooming year-round. The skin-irritating ingredients in the milky sap, which are typical of this family, are only present in the wild forms; they cannot be detected in the cultivated, commercially available poinsettia varieties.
Poinsettia photographed on La Palma, Canary Islands, where it grows as a shrub.
ÖBG
ÖBG
Poinsettias are easy to cultivate perennial in a pot.
It is best to cut back the plants in spring (March / April), pot them in fresh soil and put them outdoors during the summer. Flowering starts even without artificial darkening, but usually after Advent.