[00:00.10]From VOA Learning English, this is the Agriculture Report in Special English.
[00:06.39]Poinsettias are the best-selling potted flowering plant in the United States.
[00:12.97]Red poinsettias are a traditional part of Christmas celebrations,
[00:18.05]which is why almost all of them are sold at wintertime.
[00:22.52]The Department of Agriculture estimates
[00:27.19]that Americans bought $250 million worth of poinsettias last year.
[00:33.01]The poinsettia is native to Central America and needs warmth to grow.
[00:39.33]Bright red poinsettias are the best known.
[00:42.91]But there are about one hundred different kinds,
[00:46.28]in colors including white, pink, yellow and purple.
[00:51.85]The flowers of the poinsettia are very small.
[00:56.02]Around the flowers are colorful leaves called bracts.
[01:00.85]These bracts are what give the plants their beauty.
[01:05.46]The poinsettia is named for Joel Roberts Poinsett from South Carolina.
[01:12.33]In 1825 President John Quincy Adams appointed him as the United States' first minister to Mexico.
[01:23.12]Poinsett had an interest in plants. He saw the colorful plants growing in the wild.
[01:30.71]Wild poinsettias can grow up to four meters tall.
[01:35.53]He liked them so much that he sent some cuttings back to the United States.
[01:42.05]The botanical name for the plant is Euphorbia pulcherrima.
[01:47.77]In Latin, that means "most beautiful euphorbia."
[01:52.19]There are hundreds of related plants, including rubber trees,
[01:57.66]trees that produce castor and tung oil, and the cassava, a root crop.
[02:04.04]
[02:09.51]can develop a mild skin rash from poinsettia plants.
[02:14.58]Babies and pets that chew on poinsettias can get sick.
[02:19.90]But experts say the plant is not as poisonous as some people think.
[02:25.61]In the 1920s, Albert Ecke and his son Paul became interested
[02:32.88]in the poinsettia's ability to flower in winter.
[02:37.36]Paul Ecke thought it would be a good plant to display at Christmastime.
[02:42.93]They started a farm near Encinitas, California.
[02:47.24]At first, Paul Ecke, and later his son, grew large plants in fields.
[02:54.47]Then they sent them to growers by train.
[02:58.03]Growers would divide the large plants into cuttings,
[03:02.81]to raise smaller ones in greenhouses until the holidays.
[03:07.94]In the 1960s came poinsettias that grew best in containers.
[03:14.63]The Eckes started to sell cuttings from these new plants.
[03:19.68]Today Ecke Ranch remains a major supplier in the United States and around the world.
[03:27.52]In August, Paul Ecke's grandson announced
[03:31.63]that the company was joining the Dutch-based Agribio Group.