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Poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima)

Dlium Poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima)

Poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima) is a plant species in Euphorbiaceae which is famous for its striking leaves. Shrubs or small trees 0.6-4 meters high, forming canopy with a diameter of about 2 meters and having dark green leaves with a length of 7-16 cm.

E. pulcherrima has single elliptical or ovoid leaves with stems mostly 2-4 curves. The tip of the leaf is pointed with the arrangement of pinnate bones and the upper part is bright red or orange, pale green, cream and white according to the variety.







The color of red leaves is created through photoperiodism which requires darkness for 12 hours for at least five consecutive days to change color. At the same time, plants need abundant light during the day for the brightest colors.

This species has simple flowers forming groups in small yellow structures in the middle of each leaf bunch. Single house flowers, yellow and do not fall easily for several weeks, but stamens will fall out. Female flowers sit between male flowers without crowns and are only surrounded by cyathium.

TAXON

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Malpighiales
Family: Euphorbiaceae
Subfamily: Euphorbioideae
Tribe: Euphorbieae
Subtribe: Euphorbiinae
Genus: Euphorbia L. in Sp. Pl.: 450 (1753)
Subgenus: Chamaesyce
Section: Poinsettia
Species: Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd. ex Klotzsch in Allg. Gartenzeitung 2: 27 (1834)

HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS

Poinsettia pulcherrima (Willd. ex Klotzsch) Graham in Edinburgh New Philos. J. 20: 412 (1836)

HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS

Euphorbia coccinea Raf. in Atlantic J. 1: 182 (1833)
Euphorbia diversifolia Willd. ex Boiss. in A.P.de Candolle, Prodr. 15(2): 71 (1862)
Euphorbia erithrophylla Bertol. in Nuovi Ann. Sci. Nat. 1: 414 (1838)
Euphorbia fastuosa Sessé & Moc. in Naturaleza (Mexico City), ser. 2, 1(App.): 81 (1888)
Euphorbia lutea Alam. ex Boiss. (1862)
Euphorbia poinsettiana Buist ex Graham (1836)
Euphorbia poinsettii Raf. (1833)
Euphorbia pulcherrima f. lutea Standl. in Publ. Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Bot. Ser. 22: 151 (1940)
Pleuradena coccinea Raf. (1833)
Poinsettia ignescens Van Geert in Nursery Cat. (Auguste Van Geert) 83: 20 (1882)
Poinsettia mirabilis Van Geert (1882)
Poinsettia pulcherrima var. albida Maund in Botanist 2: t. 70 (1838)
Poinsettia pulcherrima var. major H.J.Veitch in Gard. Chron. 1872: 1626 (1872)
Poinsettia pulcherrima var. plena Hovey in Nursery Cat. (Hovey & co.) 1882: 13 (1882)
Poinsettia pulcherrima var. plenissima H.J.Veitch in Gard. Chron., n.s., 4: 782 (1875)
Poinsettia pulcherrima var. rosea-carminata Dombrain in Fl. Mag. (London), n.s., 12: t. 68 (1873)
Poinsettia pulcherrima var. roseocarminata W.Bull in Nursery Cat. (William Bull) 68: 9 (1873)
Poinsettia variabilis Van Geert (1882)

PUBLICATIONS

Acevedo-Rodríguez, P. & Strong, M.T. (2012). Catalogue of seed plants of the West Indies. Smithsonian Contributions to Botany 98: 1-1192.

Baksh-Comeau, Y., Maharaj, S.S., Adams, C.D., Harris, S.A., Filer, D.L. & Hawthorne, W.D. (2016). An annotated checklist of the vascular plants of Trinidad and Tobago with analysis of vegetation types and botanical 'hotspots'. Phytotaxa 250: 1-431.

Balakrishnan, N.P. & Chakrabarty, T. (2007). The family Euphorbiaceae in India. A synopsis of its profile, taxonomy and bibliography: 1-500. Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, Dehra Dun.

Berendsohn, W.G., Gruber, A.K. & Monterrosa Salomón, J. (2009). Nova silva cusatlantica. Árboles nativos e introduciados de El Salvador. Parte 1: Angiospermae - Familias A a L. Englera 29-1: 1-438.

Bhellum, B.L. (2012). Flora exotica of Jammu and Kashmir (List- I). Journal of Economic and Taxonomic Botany 36: 33-45.

Binojkumar, M.S. & Balakrishnan, N.P. (2010). The genus Euphorbia L. (Euphorbiaceae) in India. A taxonomic revision: 1-430. Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, Dehra Dun.

Chayamarit, K. & Van Welzen, P.C. (2005). Euphorbiaceae (Genera A-F). Flora of Thailand 8(1): 1-303. The Forest Herbarium, National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department, Bangkok.

Choudhary, R.K., Srivastava, R.C., Das, A.K. & Lee, J. (2012). Floristic diversity assessment and vegetation analysis of Upper Siang district of eastern Himalaya in North East India. Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy 42: 222-246.

Danton, P. & Perrier, C. (2004). Liste de la Flore vasculaire de l'île Robinson Crusoe archipel Juan Fernández, Chili. Journal de Botanique Société de Botanique de France 24: 67-78.

Florence, J. (1997). Flore de la Polynésie Française 1: 1-393. ORSTOM éditions, Paris.

Garcia-Mendoza, A.J. & Meave, J.A. (eds.) (2012). Diversidad florística de Oaxaca: de musgos a angiospermas (colecciones y listas de especies), ed. 2: 1-351. Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.

Gosline, G., Bidault, E., van der Burgt, X., Cahen, D., Challen, G., Condé, N., Couch, C., Couvreur, T.L.P., Dagallier, L.M.J., Darbyshire, I., Dawson, S., Doré, T.S., Goyder, D., Grall, A., Haba, P., Haba, P., Harris, D., Hind, D.J.N., Jongkind, & al. (2023). A Taxonomically-verified and Vouchered Checklist of the Vascular Plants of the Republic of Guinea. Nature, scientific data 10, Article number: 327: [1]-[12].

Govaerts, R., Frodin, D.G. & Radcliffe-Smith, A. (2000). World Checklist and Bibliography of Euphorbiaceae (and Pandaceae) 1-4: 1-1622. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Hammel, B.E., Grayum, M.H., Herrera & C. & Zamora, N. (eds.) (2010). Manual de plantas de Costa Rica volumen V. Dicotiledóneas (Clusiaceae-Gunneraceae). Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden 119: 1-970. Missouri Botanical Garden.

Jones, M. (1991). A checklist of Gambian plants: 1-33. Michael Jones, The Gambia College.

Lejoy, J., Ndjele, M.-B. & Geerinck, D. (2010). Catalogue-flore des plantes vasculaires des districts de Kisangani et de la Tshopo (RD Congo). Taxonomania. Revue de Taxonomie et de Nomenclature Botaniques 30: 1-307.

Lisowski, S. (2009). Flore (Angiospermes) de la République de Guinée. Scripta Botanica Belgica 41: 1-517.

Nelson Sutherland, C.H. (2008). Catálogo de las plantes vasculares de Honduras. Espermatofitas: 1-1576. SERNA/Guaymuras, Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

Plunkett, G.M., Ranker, T.A., Sam, C. & Balick, M.J. (2022). Towards a checklist of the vascular flora of Vanuatu. Candollea 77: 105-118.

Sarder, N.U. & Hassan, M.A. (eds.) (2018). Vascular flora of Chittagong and the Chittagong Hill Tracts 3: 1-978. Bangladesh National Herbarium, Dhaka.

Sauerbier, H., Cabrera Calixto, F. & Muer, T. (2023). Flora Vascular de Canarias: 1-1514. Turquesa.

Stevens, W.D., Ulloa U., C., Pool, A. & Montiel, O.M. (2001). Flora de Nicaragua. Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden 85: i-xlii, 1-2666. Missouri Botanical Garden.

Velayos, M., Barberá, P., Cabezas, F.J., de la Estrella, M., Fero, M. & Aedo, C. (2014). Checklist of the vascular plants of Annobón (Equatorial Guinea). Phytotaxa 171: 1-78.

Welsh, S.L. (1998). Flora Societensis: 1-420. E.P.S. Inc. Utah.

Wu, Z.Y., Raven, P.H. & Hong, D.Y. (eds.) (2008). Flora of China 11: 1-622. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.

Yang, Y., Riina, R., Morawetz, J.J., Haevermans, T., Aubriot, X. & Berry, P.E. (2012). Molecular phylogenetics and classification of Euphorbia subgenus Chamaesyce (Euphorbiaceae). Taxon 61: 764-789.

VERNACULAR NAME

Afrikaans: Karlienblom
Arabic: بنت القنصل
Basque: Pazko lorea
Chinese (simplified): 一品红
Chinese (traditional): 一品紅 - 聖誕紅 - 聖誕花
Czech: Vánoční hvězda
Danish: Julestjerne
English: Poinsettia
Filipino: Kastuba
Finnish: Joulutähti
French: Étoile de Noël
German: Weihnachtsstern
Greek: Αλεξανδρινό
Hong Kong: 一品紅
Indonesia: Kastuba, Puring benggala, Pohon merah, Racunan
Italian: Stella di Natale
Japanese: ショウジョウボク - ポインセチア - 猩々木
Java: Kastuba, Racunan, Denok
Khmer: កាស្ទូបា
Lao: ຄາສຕູບາ
Lithuanian: Puošniausioji karpažolė
Macao: 一品紅
Malaysia: Kastuba
Manipur: Mana angangbi
Marathi: Pancheti
Norwegian: Julestjerne
Polish: Gwiazda betlejemska, Poinsecja nadobna, Wilczomlecz nadobny, Wilczomlecz piękny
Portuguese: Poinsétia, Bico-de-papagaio
Russian: Молочай красивейший
Slovak: Mliečnik najkrajší
Spanish: Estrella Federal, Flor de noche buena, Flor de Pascua, Nochebuena
Sunda: Kigeulis
Swedish: Julstjärna
Thai: คาสตูบา
Turkish: Atatürk Çiçeği
Ukrainian: Молочай-різдвяник
Vietnam: Hoa giáng sinh

Aryo Bandoro
Dlium TheDlium
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Dlium
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