December
Birth Flowers
Poinsettia
The first december birth flower is the Poinsettia which equals
celebration, success, reassurance, and good cheer
Also known as the Mexican flame leaf or Christmas star or Noche
Buena , the poinsettia, is a plant known for its striking red displays
at Christmas time. It is often used as a floral Christmas decoration
because of its festive colors. Poinsettias are native to southern
Mexico and Central America, where they may reach heights of sixteen
feet. They are named after Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first United
States ambassador to Mexico, who introduced the plant in the U.S.
in 1825.
A Mexican legend explains how poinsettias came to be associated
with Christmas. Apparently, a child who could not afford a gift
to offer to Christ on Christmas Eve picked some weeds from the side
of a road. The child was told that a humble gift, if given in love,
would be acceptable in God's eyes. When brought into the church,
the weeds bloomed into red and green flowers and the congregation
felt they had witnessed a Christmas miracle.
The Aztec Indians prized poinsettias and considered them a symbol
of purity because of their brilliant red color. They made a reddish-purple
dye from the colored "flowers", which are actually modified
leaves called bracts. They also made a medicine against fevers from
the latex sap of the plant.The "birth flowers" are actually
large bunches of colored leaves; the flowers themselves are in the
center of each leaf bunch, but rather small and inconspicuous.
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Narcissus
Formality, sweetness, self admiration, formality, and egotism,
are all represented by the Narcissus flower. Another birth month
flower of December.
Narcissus is the Latin name for a group of hardy, mostly spring-flowering,
bulbs. There are several Narcissus species that bloom in the autumn.
They are mostly native to the Mediterranean region, but a few species
are found through central Asia to China.
The name is derived from Greek mythology of Narcissus who fell
in love with his own reflection in a stream. Transfixed by the stream,
the gods believed he would die of starvation so they changed him
into the flower to stay there forever.
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