Species Poinsettia cyathophora

For Joel Roberts Poinsett (1775–1851), US statesman, member of the House of Representatives, s cretary of war under president Martin van Buren, amateur botanist, gardener, traveller and diplomat. He travelled extensively through Europe 1802–1804, through Russia 1806–1807 (only three of the eight in the party survived), South America (Chile and Argentina, 1810–1814, where he served as the US consul general), and Mexico 1822–1830 as America’s special envoy, later minister to Mexico. It was here he discovered what in Mexico is called ‘Flor de Noche Buena’ (Christmas Eve flower). He sent samples of the plant back to the US. By 1836 the plant was widely known as ‘poinsettia’.