The Christmas flower with the unknown story

There is a flower that is the symbol of Christmas all over the world, decorating houses, streets and shops with its glamorous presence.
Its name is Poinsettia, but it is also known as the Alexandrian or Star of Bethlehem. As for its scientific name, this is pulcherrima.
Famous for many decades in Europe and of course due to color, shape, but also the fact that this period is the culmination of its flowering, completely associated with Christmas, poinsettia is now in the hearts of Greeks, decorating our homes. the days.
The flower with the unique beauty has many secrets, unknown to most. Its original name was cuetlaxochitl, the one given to it by the Aztecs, which means "flower with petals as durable as leather ...".
The name of the plant, which is known all over the world, poinsettia, recalls in historical memory that of Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first American ambassador to Mexico, who visited Taxco in the state of Guerrero in Mexico, as part of a double mission in 1830, and was immediately enchanted by the beauty of the plant.
Unable to escape his ... charm, he took some plants with him to his hometown of Southern California, where he began cultivating them. And so the Aztec cuetlaxochitl or the Mexican nochebuena became the poinsettia of Joel Robert Poinsett and the whole world.
Poinsettia has many varieties, namely over 150, which differ in size and color, and is grown in many states of Mexico.
It is noteworthy that, according to Reuters, in 2014 the plant's exports reached $ 1.2 million mainly to the United States, Canada, Nicaragua and South Korea.