The poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima) is the most popular flowering plant sold in the United States with more than 70 million sold nationwide each year. When South Carolinian Joel R. Poinsett (1779 – 1851), the first U.S. ambassador to Mexico, collected and introduced the poinsettia to the Bartram Botanical Garden in Philadelphia in 1828, it’s doubtful he had any idea how popular this plant would become. Robert Buist, a Philadelphia nurseryman and florist, saw the potential of the newly introduced poinsettia, and named it after Joel Poinsett. (More)
