Scientific Name: Euphorbia pulcherrima
Common Name: poinsettia
Family Name: Euphorbiaceae
Origin: Central America, Mexico
Hardiness Zone: Zone 9: (-7 to -1 °C)
Plant Type: Flowering cut plant, Flowering pot plant
Mature Size: 3 - 5m x 1.5 - 2.0m (height x width)
Habit: Irregular, Spreading, Stiffly upright, Twiggy
Form: Oval - horizontal
Texture: Medium - coarse
Landscape Uses: Indoor plant
Exposure: Full sun only if soil kept moist, Part sun/part shade
Soil or Media: Well-drained
Leaves: Simple, Alternate, Soft flexible, Glandular hairs, Ovate, Entire, Pinnately lobed
Flowers: Cyathium, Yellow, Jan-Nov-Dec
Fruit: Schizocarp, Aborted (hybrids) or absent, Green, Brown, Feb-Mar
Key ID Features:
Widely sold and used indoors during winter; stem exudes white sap when broken; leaves alternate, most blades ovate, 6-8cm long x 5-8cm wide, cymose inflorecence about 2cm wide of cyathia with yellow nectaries and stamens, encircled with 5-7 coloured leaflike bracts that are commonly red (white or pink cvs.).