 The Poinsettia is associated with Christmas thanks to a poor Mexican girl named Pepita. The short version of this story is that Pepita didn't have anything to give the baby Jesus at the Christmas Eve services. Luckily, her cousin Pedro told her, I'm sure that even the smallest gift given by someone who loves him will make Jesus happy. So Pepita picked a handful of weeds from the road, and when she went into the church and placed them next to the nativity scene, the weeds miraculously turned into the bright red Poinsettia! Now how they became part of the world's Christmas traditions is thanks in great part to Joel Robert's Poinsett, the US Ambassador to Mexico who brought it back with him to the USA! Before him it was called this by the Aztecs. Glad they changed the name. And the Mexicans call it La Flora de la Noche Buena. Paul Eck Jr. helped the Poinsettias fame by giving free plants to the Tonight Show and the Bob Hope Show. His advertising plan helped to secure Poinsettias as the most popular Christmas plant in the world.