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The poinsettia was named after Joel Roberts Poinsett (1779 - 1851). The son of a French physician and the first United States Ambassador to Mexico (1825 - 1829). Poinsett had medical training but his real love was in botany. (Mr. Poinsett later founded the institution which we know today as the Smithsonian Institution). Poinset was very impresed by the bright red display exhibited by the plant and sent some of them back to South Carolina, where he began propagating the plants and sending them to friends and botanical gardens. Robert Buist, a Pennsylvania nurseryman. Mr. Buist is thought to be the first person to have sold the plant under its botanical name, Euphorbia pulcherrima (literally, "the most beautiful Euphorbia"). Though it is thought to have become known by its more popular name of poinsettia around 1836, the origin of the name is certainly clear!

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10y ago

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