Euphorbia pulcherrima are as essential to Christmas as evergreen trees andmistletoe . Every year , they derive out of the greenhouses and off the store shelves into our homes , and every year , some well - meaning but factually - challenged aunt or family friend warns us that we should n’t have the plants out around the baby or the cat or the dog because they ’re extremely vicious .
This estimation originated in 1919 , when a 2 - year - honest-to-goodness child in Hawaii reportedly eat the leaves of a Christmas flower and soon fell ill with looseness , vomiting , and delirium , and then died . While never confirmed as a case of toxic condition , the story got reduplicate over and over and eventually the deadly painted leaf entered into innovative urban mythology .
In realness , whileEuphorbia pulcherrimais not something you want to be munching on , it ’s certainly not a killer .
Since fingers were first luff at it in Hawaii , plentifulness of inquiry has been done on the painted leaf , and none of it has become up anything to be alert about .
Lab Rats
Researchers havedosedanimals with poinsettia leaves and flowers andappliedthe plant ’s sap to their heart and tegument . They ’ve observe their behavior andcutthem open to examine their intestines . In these experiments and others , the ingest poinsettia never led to sign of intoxication ( sap on the tegument is another story , and we ’ll get to that in a second ) .
The high observational dot of Christmas star that I was able to find in a subject field was 25 grams per kilogram of body weightiness , which extend to no toxic effects in science lab informer . The researchers who did this study say that , assume no species variation in reaction , a 50 - Irish pound child / cad / enormous cat would require to eat about a pound and quarter of poinsettia leave to reach that dose .
unlike animalsdohavedifferentlevels of tolerance for toxins , though , and scavengers like rats be given to be more liberal than others . But because we ca n’t directly test poinsettia toxicity in world in a research laboratory — nettlesome ethics and all that — we have to rely on the animate being role model to give us an idea of toxicity . Even if we ’re only in the approximate range , though , getting anywhere near that experimental dose would still require a person or pet to eat a few hundred Christmas star leafage , which are reportedly incredibly bitter and terrible tasting .
Real World Cases
What investigator can also do to analyse toxicity in humanity is expect at case of factual poisonings outside the lab . In 1996 , researchers from the Pittsburgh Poison Center and several country universitiescombedthrough more than 22,000 poinsettia exposure case reported to poison control center ( almost 94 percent of which involve nipper ) . They found no fatalities , and in 92.4 percent of the cases , the patient experience no toxic effect . Most of the ease go through only minor symptoms . Only one case was report as have a “ major effect , ” but a closer critique of that case led the researchers to think that that was a really encrypt erroneous belief in the records .
foresighted story unretentive : Despite Aunt Edna ’s protests , the evidence says that Mexican flameleaf are so gently toxic ( if at all ) that any amount a kid or pet could bear to consume should be good and will only result in minor to restrained symptoms like sickness and stomachache . The plant ’s latex , though , can also devil the cutis and mucus tissue layer in both animalsandhumans , make roseola and soreness . Unpleasant ? Yes . mortal ? No .
Everything Else You Should Know About Poinsettias
The poinsettia originates in ancient Mexico , where the Aztecs cultivated it and called itcuitlaxochitl . They used excerption from its leave to dye cloth , its sap to treat fevers , and the whole plant as a medallion and a symbol of purity in their spiritual ceremony . The plant would not grow in their high - height capital , Tenochtitlan , so rulers would import them from lower - lying areas . Montezuma is said to have loved the plants so much that he sent caravans out to play them back to his palace by the thousands .
In the 1820s , Joel R. Poinsett was appoint as the first U.S. ambassador to Mexico . In gain to diplomacy , he was concerned in flora . take with the stunner of the cerise and green plant he saw , he sent cuttings from some back to his nursery at home , and American horticulturalists soon began cover it and market it as a houseplant . In 1836 , botanists ’ magazines and other sources began identifying the plant by the rough-cut namepoinsettia , a clear nod to the man who introduce it to the U.S.
away from Poinsett , belike no one did more to popularise the poinsettia in America than the Eckes . In 1900 , German immigrant Albert Ecke and his family line journey through the U.S. on their way to open a wellness spa in Fiji . When they reached Los Angeles , they decide to stop the journey and subside down there . They planted grove and fields of flowers , including chrysanthemum , gladioli , and poinsettias .
The category finally realized that the poinsettia , which bloomed in early winter near the holidays , could be a major money maker in the off - time of year . They set out to aggressively market the plant as a “ Christmas flower . ” The idea was n’t too far off , since the plant life was already a part of Christmas decoration and ritual in its native Mexico , where Spanish - speaking Mexicans know it as asla ? or de la nochebuena , or “ the flower of the Holy Night . ”
