POINSETTIAS: HOLIDAY FLOWERS MAKE ANNUAL BEST-SELLER LIST

Poinsettias, a holiday decorating tradition, bloom into best sellers for greenhouses and florists this time of year.

In fact, by the end of the Christmas season the bright red flowers will be a sellout at most locations.

Charles Korns, professor of horticulture at Southeast Missouri State University, said the poinsettia business generates over $100 million wholesale each year in the four-week period from just before Thanksgiving to just before Christmas.

"For a plant for just one holiday, poinsettia out distances them all, and about 80 to 85 percent are red. There are other colors, but red is the most popular by far."

About 30 different varieties of poinsettias are available. At the Southeast greenhouse, students grow about 15 different varieties.

"Mother Nature has done a pretty good job of getting them ready for Christmas," said Korns.

The poinsettia is a tropical plant native to an area in Mexico called Taxco, explained Harry Bertrand, horticulture instructor at the Cape Girardeau Vocational-Technical School.

"It was prized by the kings and leaders because it only grew in that one area," he said. "So during the holiday seasons, they would take it to decorate their capital cities because it did naturally bloom around Christmas time."

In the early 1800s, a U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Joel Poinsett, noticed the plants and sent some home to friends as holiday gifts, starting the tradition of poinsettias as Christmas decorations.

"From those first few plants we now have all these new colors," Bertrand said, "reds, white, peppermint pinks, what we call marbled and even in the past few years a yellow has come out."

Bertrand said poinsettias are durable house plants that really require little special care, unless you want the plant to rebloom.

"In order to get it to rebloom, starting in September it needs approximately 12 to 14 hours of total darkness every night for three weeks," Bertrand explained. "That means you can't switch on a light, a flashlight, a candle. It must also be brought back into bright sunlight each of those days. That is what initiates the bloom."

In nature, September marks the autumnal equinox with 12 hours of darkness and 12 hours of daylight.

Since making poinsettias rebloom takes considerable attention, most people turn to professionals.

"Most people end up discarding their poinsettias and letting professionals do the work."

The bright reds and pinks of the poinsettias are not really a true flower. "It's the bract," explained Bertrand. "The plant modifies its leaves to take the place of petals. The flower is a little yellow structure most people don't even notice."

In its native habitat, a poinsettia can grow 15 to 20 feet tall or taller.

At the university greenhouse, students propagate poinsettias as class projects. The plants are used across campus for decorations and some are sold.

Students at the vocational school are selling 500 poinsettias they have grown from clippings.

"We try to have them ready right around Thanksgiving, maybe just a little before so staff members can take them out of town for gifts," said Bertrand.

Korns and Bertrand said sales have been brisk. Individuals may purchase plants weekdays.