Back in 1821, Mexico won its independence from Spain, and the young United States immediately sent diplomats to the new government to the south, which included Texas, of course, at the time. An American diplomat named Poinsett was sent to Mexico in the foreign service of the United States.
A former congressman from South Carolina, Joel Poinsett was deeply interested in botany, and found the study of plants most interesting. While in Mexico, he discovered the indigenously growing cuetlaxochitl, which was the Aztec word for the leafy plant that bloomed in southern Mexico in the winter.
POINSETT WAS intrigued by the plant, and quickly began promoting it to those in the United States he knew. He grew it in hot houses he maintained in the United States, and tirelessly promoted it. He sent the plant to friends and relatives, and its popularly was instant. Its compact size, combination of green and red, and its Christmas time blooming made it a plant that was made for America.
By 1836 the plant had become known in the United States as the Poinsettia. Since then, the plant has become synonymous with Christmas and is emblematic of Texas, where our days are the perfect length to make the plants bloom near Christmas.
I first learned about the intriguing story of how we can came to have a plant called the “Poinsettia” 35 years ago. I was a student after Stephen F. Austin State University majoring in History and Political Science. My favorite History teacher was the same Archie McDonald who writes for many newspapers about Texas History, the same Archie McDonald whose columns have many times adorned the page four Op-Ed page of The Gilmer Mirror.
AFTER MY military time from 1968-1972, I had a hunger for historical knowledge, and pursued it daily at SFASU. It was not long before I took my first of several courses from Professor McDonald, author of a biography of famous Alamo commander, William Barret Travis, and author of a dozen other books.
It was Professor McDonald who first told me the story of how Joel Poinsett’s ambassorship to Mexico led to the introduction of the seasonally blooming plant to our country.
In this Christmas season, it is appropriate to thank Professor McDonald and so many others like him, who give us the gift of knowledge. We know about the Joel Poinsetts of history because the Archie McDonalds tell email@example.com Pappy Moore Archives