Did You Know?

Poinsettia

No flower says Christmas more like a poinsettia. Joel Roberts Poinsett, introduced the plant to the United States from Mexico. Poinsett, was a botanist, physician and first United States Ambassador to Mexico.

• The showy colored parts of poinsettias that most people thing of as flowers are actually colored bracts. The flower part is in the middle of the brachts. • There are more than 100 varieties of poinsettias today. They come in colors like red, white, pink, burgundy, marbled and speckled. • In Mexico, the Poinsettia is a perennial shrub that will grow 10-15 feel tall.

Mistletoe is a parasitic plant that is often used as a symbol of renewal because it stays green all winter.

• There are 1,300 mistletoe species world wide. The continental US and Canada are home to 30 species while

Hawaii is home to another six. • As they mature, mistletoes grow into thick often rounded masses of branches until they look like baskets, sometimes called “witches brooms” measuring 5 feet wide and weighing 50 pounds. • A variety of birds including owls and Cooper’s hawks are known to nest in mistletoe “witches brooms.”

Christmas Tree

The first decorated Christmas tree was in Riga, Latvia, in 1510.

• Thomas Edison’s assistant, Edward Johnson, came up with the idea of electric lights for

Christmas trees in 1882. Christmas tree lights were first mass-produced in 1890. • The tradition of an official Chicago Christmas tree was initiated in 1913 when one was first lit by Mayor Carter H. Harrison in Grant Park. • Franklin Pierce, the 14th President of the

United States, was the first President to place a

Christmas tree in the White House. • President Coolidge started the National

Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony on the

White House Lawn in 1923. n

Information provided by the University of Illinois Extension and the National Wildlife Federation.

... and now you know!18 | Michiana House and Home | December 2021 |