Plants of Christmas : Poinsettia

Poinsettia, Euphorbia pulcherrima, ( Family : Euphorbiaceae ) is a species of flowering plant indigenous to Central America. The name ‘poinsettia’ is after Joel Robert Poinsett, the first US Ambassador to Mexico, who introduced the plant into the US in 1828.

The plants’ association with Christmas began in 16^th century Mexico, where legend tells of a young girl who was too poor to provide a gift for the celebration of Jesus’s birthday. The girl then was inspired by an angel to gather weeds from the roadside and place them in front of the church altar. Crimson blossoms sprouted from the weeds and become beautiful poinsettias.

Poinsettia is a short-day plant, which means it require a period of uninterrupted long, dark nights in autumn in order to develop flowers, coincidentally the Christmas season. However, the showy red ‘flowers’ are not true flowers. The brilliant red ‘flowers’ are actually modified leaves, call bracts. The actual flower is small yellow at the center of the bracts.

¹As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. ²He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins.³"I tell you the truth," he said, "this poor widow has put in more than all the others. ⁴All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on."

Luke 21:1-4

note: info extracted from Wikipedia

Plants of Christmas : Mistletoe

Mistletoe is the common name for a group of hemi-parasitic flowering plants in the order Santalales that grow attached to and within the branches of a tree or shrub. Mistletoe bears evergreen leaves that do some photosynthesis, and using the host mainly for water and mineral nutrients. Due to its hemi-parasitic characteristic, it is often considered a pest that kills trees and devalues natural habitats, but was recently recognized as an ecological keystone species. A broad array of animals depends on mistletoe for food and nesting.

According to custom, the mistletoe must not touch the ground between its cutting and its removal as the last of Christmas greens at Candlemas; it may remain hanging through the year, often to preserve the house from lightning or fire, until it was replaced the following Christmas Eve.

According to a custom of Scandinavian origin, any male and female who meet under a hanging mistletoe are obliged to kiss.

Viscum album ( Family : Santalaceae ) is used in Europe, whereas Phoradendron serotinum ( Family : Santalaceae ) is used in North America.

²⁴Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. ²⁶But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.

Matthew 7 :24-27