Decorative poinsettias have played an integral role in Christmas traditions for hundreds of years. With their star-shaped bracts, these magnificent plants (also known as the Christmas Star) are as much a part of this festive time of year as Christmas trees, Advent calendars, gifts and cards. Houseplant styling expert Dr Susanne Lux of Stars for Europe (SfE) shares the story of how the poinsettia became the world’s favourite Christmas plant.

The poinsettia originally comes from Mexico, where it grows as a shrub up to 5m high. The Aztecs cultivated the beautiful plant, decorated temples with it and used it to produce a dye for colouring clothes and as a medicine to reduce fever.

Following the Spanish conquest of Mexico, the poinsettia became favoured as a Christmas plant and was given the name ‘Estrella de Navidad’ (Christmas star). After appearing in a procession of Franciscan monks in the 17th century it was given the name ‘Flor de Nochebuena’ (Holy Night Flower), and increasingly became a Christian symbol.

It was in 1825 that a devoted amateur botanist called Joel Roberts Poinsett, who also happened to be America’s first ambassador to Mexico, became fascinated by the Holy Night Flower and began sending them home to South Carolina. A friend of Poinsett, Robert Buist, became similarly enamoured, calling the plants ‘Euphorbia pulcherrima’ (beautiful) and started to sell them.

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By 1909 the German-born emigrant, Albert Ecke, saw how the bracts of wild poinsettias around his farm turned red in December and decided he was onto a winner. He had the idea of cultivating poinsettias to sell as cut flowers from his street stand in the run-up to Christmas.

After his death in 1919, his son Paul I took over the family business and established the poinsettia as a festive symbol under the name Christmas Star. As early as 1920 he tried to grow poinsettias in pots but early varieties weren’t suitable for this type of cultivation. It wasn’t until the 1950s that it became possible to breed varieties and from the 1960s onwards, cultivated potted varieties increasingly replaced cut flowers. At the same time as growing poinsettias, the Ecke family ran their own shops in Hollywood and invested a lot of time and energy into marketing activities.

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This helped the poinsettia achieve huge popularity within a few years and it soon became an integral part of American Christmas culture. The poinsettia also established itself as a houseplant and Christmas flower in Europe from the 1950s onwards.

Today, there are hundreds of poinsettia varieties in many colours, shapes and sizes. As pot plants and cut flowers, they are an enduring symbol of Christmas, helping to blend ancient and modern traditions, beautify homes and serve as thoughtful gifts. As Stars for Europe has shown over the years, they can also be used in all sorts of festive DIY ideas, with cut and mini poinsettias proving to be ideal for creative craft projects.

Tip: Decorations and fabrics with a vintage feel are currently on-trend and work perfectly with poinsettias, the classic Christmas plant!

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Christmas trees decorated with poinsettias
A decked-out Christmas tree is the quintessential festive symbol and is hugely popular, not just with children. Poinsettias make the perfect living tree decorations.

When it comes to festive Christmas decor, poinsettias not only sparkle as tree decorations, but also as decorations on presents and as a sea of flowers in this vintage box used as a Christmas tree stand. This is real forestcore style!

With their bright colours, they conjure up an unforgettable atmosphere and make other decorations all but redundant.

Tip: Either place the cut poinsettias on the presents in a flower tube filled with water or wrap them with green floral tape. To seal the cut ends, immediately after cutting, dip the stems into hot water (around 60°C) for a few seconds and then plunge them straight into cold water.

For more information about the Holy Night Flower and to access an image library filled with beautiful festive lifestyle images, visit the Stars for Europe website. Image credits: Stars for Europe.