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Poinsettia is an excellent Christmas gift and brightens up the lawns in the North in winter,
writes Kiran Narain
As
there are few flowers to brighten up the garden around Christmas, flamboyant poinsettia (Euphorbia Pulcherima, of Euphorbiaceae family) is deservedly popular. It has found a place for itself on Christmas cards and decorations, along with pine, holy and mistletoe, and adorns the gardens in Delhi and other parts of North India from November to the beginning of March. Commonly referred to as Christmas Star or Christmas plant, poinsettia came originally from Mexico and is named after Ambassador Poinsett of South Carolina who introduced it to the world in the middle of the 19th century. It is a rapidly growing deciduous shrub with large green leaves. It bears small inconspicuous flowers surrounded by large whorls of elliptical bright bracteal leaves. The leaves have rounded bud-like formations that are the cluster of degenerated flowers. Widely grown in most parts of the world, in green houses in colder climates and out-of-the-doors in warmer places, poinsettia have a short, thick trunk and rough brown bark. The branches are green and slender spreading into an open bush (about 6 to 10 feet) formation. The new leaves are soft, pinkish bronze in colour, later becoming green and leathery with well-marked veins. The bracts attain a lovely deep crimson shade in winter. Horticulturists have introduced the pink, white and yellow varieties but the flamboyant crimson or vermillion is still an old-time favourite. Poinsettia’s make excellent Christmas gifts in pots. The soil should be light and porous and the roots should not be disturbed when the cuttings of the old stock are potted. New technique and the use of growth depressant chemicals are responsible for the compact plant barely more than two feet tall when offered for sale. Poinsettia does well in full sun and does not like water logging. It can be cut back severely after flowering — about half to one foot from the ground in February or early March. It is advised to make the shrub a nice manageable, compact and well-shaped one for the next season. A good compost would be three parts fibrous loam, one part farmyard manure, one part leaf mould and half part sharp sand. A little weak liquid manure should be applied weekly until the bracts get colour, which will be very beneficial. For pots, it is better to grow plants from fresh cuttings every year. The light factor is the reason why it is difficult to make poinsettia flower indoors. It is advisable to grow them in a room where they get natural daylight. A sunny window will be ideal in case the temperature is around 16ºC. As the flowers in the centre of the bract begin to rot, the bract will also begin to disintegrate and a few days later the leaves will also begin to turn yellow and fall. The stem at this stage can be cut back about half to one foot. A week or two before cutting back the old stock, it is advisable that the water be gradually withdrawn. The flow of sap from the cut will not harm and can be let to dry naturally. If you want to be very careful, apply powdered charcoal or moist sand to the wound. Like other plants with milky white sap, poinsettia is also poisonous and demands care in handling. Both the leaves and bracts droop and drop very quickly after cutting, so, if they are required for flower vases, the cut ends should be immediately plunged into boiling water to the depth of a couple of inches. This will make cut flowers last for a considerable time. |
