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Poinsettia

POINSETTIA (1) 

What a beautiful holiday plant to name your baby girl after. We all know someone with a Christmas related name, but not this rare gem. Pronounced POYN-setta, although some do say poin-SET-ee-ah or POINT-set-ah, you can create a wide range of nicknames such as Pippa, Settia, or just Tia. In 2010 and 2011 there were no babies named Poinsettia. The poinsettia was named for Joel Poinsett, the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico. It is said he is the one who brought attention to this plant for botanists to study. It's hard to believe this Christmas plant is actually tropical. The Aztecs used this plant to produce red dye, and today Mexicans and Guatemalans call it "Noche Buena," Christmas Eve, although in Spain it is called the Easter flower. The poinsettia's Christmas origin began in Mexico, where a young girl's gift of weeds to Jesus's altar at church blossomed into poinsettias. A century later, Franciscan friars in Mexico used this plant in their Christmas celebrations because the leaves resembled the Star of Bethlehem and the red color symbolized the blood of Christ. But just so you know, poinsettias can be toxic, so don't go eating them or feeding them to your pets.
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