Species of shrubby plant native to Central America and the southern United States with large, tapering bright red bracts that surround clusters of small yellow flowers. Sold as an ornamental at Christmastime. The poinsettia is native to Mexico and Central America; grows in moist, wet, wooded ravines and on rocky hillsides. It was named for Joel R. Poinsett, who popularized the plant and introduced it to floriculture while he was U.S. minister to Mexico in the late 1820s.
