I recently found out that [poinsettias](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poinsettia) are native to Mexico. In the US you can buy these anywhere around Christmas time and people put them in their house for some Christmas color.
Since apparently they are North American in origin, is this common in Europe?
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In Portugal it’s called estrela de natal, which translates to Christmas star, or at least it seems to be the same thing from your link. I wasn’t aware of its English name until now. They’re kind of common to have around during Christmas season, and I suppose fake ones are common too as part of Christmas decoration.
They’re common here yes. There’s a greenhouse near me that goes full-on growing them in autumn and it’s just poinsettias as far as the eye can see. They’re called “kerstster”, Christmas star, here.
But for the record a lot of plants that are native to North America are common here. Especially plants for late summer/early autumn for some reason. Dahlia, Helenium, the North American variety of lupin (this has even naturalised in some places), Echinacea, several varieties of Aster (ok Symphyotrichum if you insist), Gaultheria, Heuchera, and many many more.
Yes! We call it Stella di Natale (Christmas star) and shops are full of those plants in Christmas time. Unfortunately, most of the households are unable to take care of them, and they die before spring. My mother in law was able to let it survive since 2019, now it’s big but the red leaves are white.
According to my vet, it’s a bad gift for those who have cats because the leaves give them dermatitis.
Very common here in germany. They are called “Weihnachtsstern” so literally “Christmas star” and many people get them during the “Adventszeit” the time before christmas. I have a friend who is studying horticulture and he is researching on how to get different colours in these plants.
Yes, it is a very common and popular Christmas houseplant here in Sweden as well, and has been for a very long time. Its Swedish name is julstjärna (Christmas star). It is probably the most common Christmas flower of all here, although both amaryllis and hyacinth are very popular Christmas flowers as well.
Very common. They are sold as Christmas decorations along with Christmas cacti, hyacinths, amaryllis and couple of other plants. Since they’re very sensitive to sudden temperature changes, it is often a struggle to keep them alive and looking good until Christmas, and most end up in the trash after the holidays as they’re dying anyway. I find it quite wasteful.
It’s the default Christmas plant. I also found out recently that they originated in mexico and was a bit surprised, but then again we have several plants here that originate from there, probably due to similar climate conditions.
Very common. The typical Christmas flowers here are poinsettias, hyacinths, and amaryllis.
I actually have a big poinsettia in the house that will turn three years next Christmas. We are going to put it in the dark come autumn to see if we can get some red flowers for December.