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There are several stories of how the poinsettia became a Christmas symbol. The oldest is that Pepita, a young Mexican girl, picked beautiful red flowers along the roadside for a Christmas celebration because she was too poor to afford a gift. It soon became a religious symbol of Christmas as its flower’s pointed bracts resembled a star, and soon it was known as the Star of Bethlehem.

The second “discovery� of the poinsettia was by Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first American ambassador to Mexico. He was also an avid botanist who was so enthralled by the poinsettia that he sent clippings to his friends in South Carolina, who were encouraged to share with others. The environment proved to be ideal, and eventually plants were shipped to greenhouses, where they were given the poinsettia name.