Good Tuesday morning.
Even though holiday time in Florida is like an alternate reality, with palm trees festooned in twinkly lights and inflatable reindeer dancing across crab grass lawns, there is one thing here that’s just like home: Poinsettias are everywhere. It stands to reason, since they’re one of the best-selling plants (really a shrub) across the globe.
In the six weeks leading up to Christmas around 70 million poinsettias are sold in the country, generating about $250 million.
To be complete honest, I think poinsettias are pretty hideous. They’re spiky and not terribly welcoming or pretty, as flowering plants go. They’re also not very healthy (though not, as many believe, flat-out toxic) for children and dogs. If ingested, which is definitely happening by the canines in my house, it can cause nausea, vomiting, and/or diarrhea – another strike against them.
The poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima) is a species of the diverse spurge family Euphorbiaceae. It doesn’t grow naturally in the U.S, but rather is indigenous to Mexico and Central America, and is now the world’s most commercially important plant.
Though they don’t grow here, most poinsettia varieties are patented in the U.S. and have international protections. In a rather cruel twist, Mexican farmers must pay breeder’s rights fees to grow and sell the plants that originated on their own soil; they generally export cuttings to U.S. growers.
There’s also a Mexican legend about how the poinsettia came to be connected to Christmas. Some people see the leaves and flower as a symbol of the Star of Bethlehem that led the Wise Men to baby Jesus. The red leaves are also said to symbolize the blood of Christ, while the white variety represent his purity.
The poinsettia actually pre-dates the Christmas story. It was originally called “cuetlaxochitl” by the Aztecs, who used the plant not only as decoration but also in the production of red and purple dyes, as well as for medicines made from its milky white sap.
The plant’s English name comes from a U.S. minister to Mexico, Joel Roberts Poinsett, who is credited with bringing the first example of its kind home to these shores (South Carolina, specifically) in the early 1800s. Poinsett started cultivating the plant and sending them to various friends and botanical gardens.
The blood red plant debuted at a flower show in Philadelphia and attendees were awestruck. News reports at the time dubbed it “the showiest flower yet to be seen.” (For the record, the red parts of the plant are often mistaken for flowers, but they’re actually modified leaves called “bracts.” The plant’s small yellow flowers – called “cyathium” – are clustered in the bracts’s center).
The trouble with the poinsettia (other than the fact that it’s downright unappealing to look at, IMHO) is that it isn’t terribly hardy. It has a short blooming period, requires periods of light exclusion to keep healthy, and doesn’t travel all that well.
A Southern California farmer named Paul Ecke Sr. – AKA “The Poinsettia King – is largely credited for turning the humble plant into a must-have Christmas phenomenon. At one point, his farm was believed to control 90 percent of the market. (His farm remained in family hands until it the property was sold in 2012.
California today remains the top-producing poinsettia state, though the plant – which can reach heights of up to 15 feet – is commercially grown in all 50 states. There are actually 100 poinsettia varieties, including shades of white, cream, pink, purple, orange and yellow.
Today is National Poinsettia Day, which marks the death of the plant’s English language namesake, Poinsett. The House of Representatives passed a measure recognizing this day in 2002.
The first big storm of the winter season has passed, it appears. Today is looking pretty good, with clear, sunny skies and temperatures in the low 40s.
In the headlines….
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke yesterday with Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz about efforts to ” facilitate the safe return of all remaining hostages” in Gaza and also increasing levels of humanitarian assistance.
The Biden administration said that it is looking into reports by Amnesty International and The Washington Post that Israel used white phosphorus supplied by the United States in violation of international law.
Israel is now allowing Palestinian Americans who live in the occupied West Bank to enter its territory for the first time since militant group Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack.
The leaders of Ireland, Spain, Belgium and Malta have written a letter to the European Council President Charles Michel calling for a discussion at an upcoming EU summit on the necessity of a ceasefire in Gaza.
Infectious diseases are ravaging the population of Gaza, health officials and aid organizations said, citing cold, wet weather; overcrowding in shelters; scarce food; dirty water; and little medicine.
Harvard’s governing board yesterday was nearing a resolution that would allow its president, Claudine Gay, to remain in her job, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions. But those discussions were ongoing as of late last night.
Yale University leaders, elected officials and clergy in New Haven, Conn., condemned what they called the desecration of a public Hanukkah menorah after a protester briefly hung a Palestinian flag from it over the weekend.
The Texas Supreme Court overturned a lower court order allowing an abortion for a pregnant woman whose fetus was diagnosed with a fatal condition, hours after her lawyers said she would leave Texas for the procedure in the face of the state’s abortion bans.
Kate Cox, a mother of two from the Dallas area who is roughly 20 weeks pregnant, learned late last month that her fetus has trisomy 18, a chromosomal condition that causes severe abnormalities and organ defects and is often fatal before birth.
President Joe Biden yesterday welcomed Jewish lawmakers and community members to the White House for a celebration of Hanukkah with the backdrop of a surge in antisemitism amid Israel’s war with Hamas.
House Republicans are inches away from a major step toward impeaching Biden, as members from swing districts drop their reservations about plowing forward with the GOP investigation.
As House Republicans forge ahead with a vote to formalize an impeachment inquiry against Biden, they are using some new details and testimony to prop up hotly disputed allegations that he abused power to benefit his family.
House Republicans are eyeing a vote today to formalize the impeachment inquiry into Biden.
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, threw cold water on House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry into Biden, saying he does not “see any evidence” that the president’s actions warrant his removal from office.
Philadelphia was awarded $22.4 million from FEMA to hire 72 new firefighters and reopen three fire companies, Biden announced at Ladder 1 in the city’s Fairmount neighborhood.
Biden goes into next year’s election with a vexing challenge: Just as the U.S. economy is getting stronger, people are still feeling horrible about it.
Jack Smith, the special counsel prosecuting former President Donald Trump on charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election, asked the Supreme Court to rule on Trump’s argument that he is immune from prosecution.
“This case presents a fundamental question at the heart of our democracy: whether a former President is absolutely immune from federal prosecution for crimes committed while in office,” Smith wrote in the court filing.
The extraordinary request is an attempt by Smith to keep the election subversion trial – currently scheduled for early March – on track.
Two Georgia election workers are seeking as much as $43 million for false assertions from Rudy Giuliani that they had sought to swing the 2020 outcome against Trump.
Former Rep. George Santos has entered into plea negotiations with federal prosecutors over allegations he stole from his own campaign, according to a new court filing.
With New York’s minimum wage set to rise at the start of the new year, Gov. Kathy Hochul has launched an awareness campaign through the state Labor Department to inform workers about the new rates.
Hochul announced a plan to invest $1 billion to expand chip research activities in Albany, as the state aims to continue as a global semiconductor center.
Executives from IBM, Micron Technology and other major chip manufacturing suppliers joined state officials at the Albany Nanotech complex to announce a new, $10 billion chip research program.
“The new facilities that this multibillion dollar investment will create will help turn science fiction into microchips with chips even smaller than a single nanometer,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said.
Long Island officials are the latest group to call on Hochul to put the brakes on the congestion pricing plan, saying it will cost Long Island commuters, delivery drivers, and rideshare drivers about $36 per day just to keep living their lives as normal.
“This isn’t about cleaner air, this isn’t about less traffic. This is about nothing more than money — money being thrown into the black hole that is the MTA,” Sen. Steven Rhoads said. “The MTA stands for one thing, the MTA stands for ‘Money Thrown Away.'”
Hochul has signed legislation to expand eligibility to victim compensation funds for victims and survivors.
Hochul signed a legislative package to support New York’s food and beverage industry: the new law will increase the number of cuisine and craft beverage trails in New York State and showcase local farms and agricultural producers.
Hochul has 101 bills left to either sign into law — or veto — by Dec. 31. Over the weekend, she made a dent in that pile, approving 38 out of 60 bills sent to her office.
Proponents of a new public campaign finance system for state offices in New York say Hochul should veto a bill passed by the state legislature that they say severely weakens the law.
New York’s Republican lawmakers and allies urged the state’s highest court to uphold the “competitive” congressional districts maps approved for the 2022 midterm elections for the 2024 races.
Initially hailed as a watershed moment for access to legal justice in New York, the state’s commitment to funding civil legal services has stalled since 2010, according to public defenders, attorneys working for legal aid organizations and others.
Government officials and energy developers misjudged the difficulty of building huge clean energy projects in the United States, which has built very few of them.
The Adams administration will stick with its plan to give several for-profit companies migrant shelter contracts worth more than $560 million, but plans to make it a priority to enter into cheaper deals with nonprofit providers going forward, a spokesman said.
A Turkish-American influence group closely aligned with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been cultivating a relationship with Adams for at least eight years.
In a hours-long City Council hearing yesterday, lawmakers questioned Adams budget director about the reasoning behind a recent 5% budget cut.
The Adams administration and lawmakers went head-to-head over how much money is in the budget, with City Hall officials insisting the migrant crisis blew a hole in finances, while Council members claimed the mayor’s cuts are unwarranted.
New York City parks are poised to lose more than 1,400 staffers under Adams’ latest budget cuts, a dramatic staffing reduction that could result in certain parks being cleaned as little as once a week.
An 11-year-old boy died last night after he was found unconscious with a shoelace around his neck at an Upper West Side migrant shelter, police and law enforcement sources said.
Firefighters were tunneling through a huge pile of debris as they searched for possible victims after part of a seven-story building in the Bronx suddenly collapsed yesterday afternoon.
Firefighters found no victims after searching the debris left by the corner of the building that collapsed. Two people had minor injuries.
The facade of the seven-story building was deemed “unsafe” by an engineering firm hired by the owner in February 2020 just before COVID struck, but required repairs were then put on hold due to the pandemic, according to Building Department records.
Influential TikTok food critic Keith Lee is on a tour of Big Apple eateries — and true to their nature, New Yorkers aren’t keeping quiet over his controversial orders.
The closure of the historic Remington Arms plant in Ilion, announced at the end of November, has sparked a debate over the role of New York’s gun regulations in connection with the company’s decision.
A family in rural Union Vale, Dutchess County holds a world record for having the most lights on a residential property to the dismay of some neighbors and the delight of others.
A state Supreme Court justice has awarded a $3.75 million judgment against the now-closed Cohoes Memorial Hospital in a Child Victims Act case filed by Gary Greenberg, an ex-Albany County legislator who was sexually abused there in 1967 by an employee.
Federal authorities filed a new charge against the man who allegedly fired two rounds from a shotgun outside Temple Israel in Albany on Thursday.
Saratoga County Sheriff’s deputies are asking county officials to take immediate action to remedy dire staffing levels and low pay that they says is now threatening public safety.
Hundreds of community groups were slated to be a part of what is being billed by the Schenectady School District as a ‘Right to Read’ campaign at Proctors GE Theatre last night.
Town of Colonie officials say Chick-fil-A is working to resolve potential traffic congestion questions to advance its stalled proposal for a new location in Latham.
“Barbie” led the Golden Globe nominations with nine, followed by “Oppenheimer” with eight. In the television categories, “Succession” had the most with nine, followed by “The Bear” and “Only Murders in the Building” with five apiece.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
