The case to rename this famous Christmas plant

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Why the story of the poinsettia is a troubling one.
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Depending on where you live, there is one plant that you can spot anywhere during the winter holiday season (outside of, well, Christmas trees): poinsettias. It was named for the first US minister to Mexico: Joel Poinsett. In Mexico, Poinsett saw the plant - called cuetlaxochitl by the Aztec and with a long history of use in the region - and shipped some cuttings back to the US.
Many around the world started calling the plant “poinsettia” to celebrate Poinsett’s legacy. But that legacy is a troubling one. Poinsett was a slave owner, a firm believer in American expansion, and during his tenure as secretary of war he oversaw the displacement of thousands of Native Americans. In his role as minister to Mexico, he meddled so much in local politics that he was asked to leave the country.
Because of that history - and the fact that the US still corners the lucrative poinsettia market while restricting their imports from Mexico - many people today reject the name poinsettia in favor of the plant’s Native name, cuetlaxochitl. Check out the video above for more on how the US got the poinsettia.
Additional sources:
The full-text of Poinsett’s “Notes from Mexico” archive.org/embed/notesonmexi...
This piece by Mark Schmeller on Poinsett’s legacy: www.washingtonpost.com/outloo...
This research on the history of poinsettias by Judith M. Taylor and others: www.canr.msu.edu/uploads/reso...
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Опубликовано:

20 дек 2022

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Комментарии : 983

@Vox Год назад

The word cuetlaxochitl is a Nahuatl word. Today within Mexico there are a few different ways people pronounce it, including kwet-la-sho-shee, kwet-la-so-chee, and kwet-la-so-chittel. For the word poinsettia, many pronounce it how it's spelled - poinsett-ee-ah. But others, especially in the US, say poinsett-ah. (how I say it in the piece!) How do you say these words? -Ranjani

@graysona_dex7419 Год назад

👉 set-ee-uh

@kenoben007 Год назад

Kweh-tla-so-shee-tl

@Miaow610 Год назад

Why would you pronounce 'poinsettia' incorrectly just because others do? It's just perpetuating ignorance.

@marmoth4099 Год назад

Ive literally never heard the nahuatl wprd here in Mexico. Even in rural regions that are primarily nahuatl. We just use "Nochebuena". Thats interesting

@amyparker9816 Год назад

@@Miaow610 What's ignorant is assuming that only one pronunciation is correct.

@sohopedeco Год назад

In Brazil, we call those plants "bico-de-papagaio", which means "parrot's beak".

@billyb6001 Год назад

I like that.

@brt5273 Год назад

Delightful!

@alisson_duron Год назад

In Honduras 🇭🇳 it's called "Pascua" in English "Easter".

@willardaustria Год назад

Que lindo!

@GonzaloGEhnis Год назад

Nochebuenas (as we call them in central Mexico) are really common in house gardens. Both of my grandmothers had them and the change of colors of the leaves was a big thing every year when I was growing up and spending time with them while they took care of their gardens. Its a beautiful part of winter in México and it’s great to know more about it’s story in the US. Great piece!!

@laattardo Год назад

May I ask, are you bothered that we call it after this man?

@GonzaloGEhnis Год назад

@@laattardo nah, not at all. We mexicans can’t expect for americans to call them nochebuenas or cuetlaxochitl. At the end, it’s just a plant, an important plant in mexican culture, but just a plant.

@laattardo Год назад

@@GonzaloGEhnis thank you for responding and Feliz Navidad 🎄

@RedxRiot Год назад

@@laattardo we (my mexican family) didn’t even know it was named after a man with questionable ethics, we just always called it nochebuenas and kept it pushing. If it ever gets renamed to something else, great, if not oh well. It’s just like everything else named after/in honor of questionable people (columbus day, thanksgiving, universities/colleges named after confederate generals, etc), not much you can do about it, and most people calling it poinsettias aren’t in alignment of the dude’s views anyway.

@oldchild527 Год назад

As a mexiquense I like both nahuatl and Spanish names, never called them poinsettia, but I would be happy if as minimum english speakers use the Spanish version, or put it aside the english name, many don't even know where it comes from! And I think origins are important.

@robswystun2766 Год назад

I didn't even know it was named after a dude. I thought poinsetia was part of the scientific name.

@manjensen1710 Год назад

Many scientific names are created after persons names, usually the person who formally describes or discovers the species, for example, the plant genus Haworthia, and the moth species Celaena haworthii, named after Adrian Hardy Haworth.

@wwvvvvvww Год назад

@@manjensen1710 Small correction, scientists are not allowed to name after themselves when they describe new species. So scientific names can be created after the person who discovered it, or another notable scientist in the same field, or potentially any person (e.g., friends, family members, etc), but never the person who describes the species.

@the_purple_mage Год назад

@@wwvvvvvww Small correction, he didn't say they were. Read it again.

@LadySnowfaerie Год назад

It is frowned upon to do that today, but historically it was often done. See Linnaea borealis, for example, the favourite flower of the botanist Carl von Linné, who named it after himself in 1753.

@VirgilOvid Год назад

Scientific names are often just some dude's name so you weren't wrong in that sense

@patriciarodriguesrentes1702 Год назад

The red "leaves" are called bracts, to differentiate them from the normal green ones. They serve to attract pollinators, as the real flowers are discreet. Here in Brazil it grows like a sparse and branched bush, which loses its vigor with age. Needs to be pruned periodically to regain vigor. Thanks for the great video!

@4ray2lira0 Год назад

As a Mexican I will now decorate my entire house with these!

@lynn858 Год назад

:) Sounds excellent! Just be cautious if you have a pet that enjoys munching on plants. The white sap in Christmas stars is mildly toxic.

@tbradtbrad Год назад

Because you found out it is originally from Mexico?

@timmallette1888 Год назад

Ok but international transport of plants can be a really big problem, spreading disease and bugs and stuff. It's not always nefarious.

@noahg4369 Год назад

we know

@daviga1 Год назад

Yeah, kind of a weak point in the video. As soon as I heard it I started imagining the Vox video 20 years from now blaming importation Whatever-we're-calling-these-plants for some invasive species or another.

@gcondado Год назад

But it already happens, now here in Mexico we have a species of Indian worm that I never knew or saw in my childhood and it came through the US to Mexico, guess how? In plants. By the way, it's called 'hammerhead flatworm'.

@SalTheCat Год назад

Not to mention the case for local growing, and how many of the same people wanting to limit large scale transport for environmental reasons also want their Christmas flowers authentic from Mexico, if I'm getting that right.

@Jason-un9ps Год назад

@@SalTheCat Exactly. And it’s not like they stepped in and stole the market from Mexican growers, they CREATED the market in the US in the first place.

@hepcatliz Год назад

Neat! we took a trip to Mexico in November once, it was very cool to see these plants growing wild, just off the highways in the underbrush. Thanks for sharing their history 👍👍

@sully9681 Год назад

You seriousy missed the essence of the story, NEAT? REALLY?

@glossygloss472 Год назад

@@WNT2BLV treachery? Over taking a single plant and growing it in the US? 😂

@EM2theBee Год назад

Neat??? I shudder to think what you call slavery or the Holocaust.

@icemeoutlikeelsa Год назад

@@glossygloss472 that's all you got from the video?

@MadCatMaddie Год назад

@@glossygloss472 No u Dnmb A$$, over the atrocities he committed. It's obvious ur completely oblivious to what these people's comments are all about and what the short video is about as well. 🤦🏻‍♂️

@lauragasque4292 Год назад

In Mexico we call it Noche Buena, which literally means "good night" but it is the way we call Christmas Eve.

@kevin080592 Год назад

Noche buena is something that we call "christmas dinner" in the philippines 🤣

@M-WG Год назад

That’s lovely!

@MSanz-jc2bg Год назад

@@kevin080592 Its cena de noche buena,means christmas eve dinner.

@ACC-2929 Год назад

Noche Buena is Christmas Eve…. Buenas noches is good night. And yes, Noche Buena is literal “good night” but doesn’t have the same meaning between a usual good night wish and the Christmas Eve holiday.

@SilkCrown Год назад

Having the plant being grown locally is a good thing. Importing at long distance is highly carbon intensive.

@peterschmidt5583 Год назад

It actually isn't very carbon intensive to grow plants long distances away if the method of cultivating them is somehow more efficient. Considering how many plants (or whatever else) go into shipping container, box car, or semi-trailer the carbon footprint is quite small, per item. Often times, the carbon footprint is actually highest, when talking about transportation, when going from the grocery store to the consumer's home. It is far less carbon intensive to transport hundreds of items in one vehicle than to transport 1 item on hundreds of vehicles, even over a relatively short distance. It really depends on a lot of factors if it is less carbon intensive to grow a plant domestically or internationally. It has far more to do with the soil and climate in the two locations than it has to do with the carbon emitted from transit. As someone who studied sustainable agriculture, I never realized this until actually doing calculating the carbon footprint of lettuce produced at the vertical urban farm I interned at. Local food is better for the community because you're (potentially) supporting local small businesses and things like this. It is good for the social aspects but no because it is actually better for the environment, at least no inherently. Each case needs to be evaluated individually.

@zzzyyyxxx Год назад

Not always. Imagine you're in a desert, growing stuff there is more carbon intensive than growing in a more lush place and importing it.

@SeanDobes Год назад

The reason for Mexico not exporting them was "Decades old sanitation laws?" that's an interesting way of glossing over a real issue. Has Mexico not been able to meet our sanitation standards after decades? Are the laws somehow leveled unevenly against Mexico?

@albarjas8360 Год назад

Ahem.. tomatoes, cucumbers, asparagus, strawberries, and the list can go on and on..........

@fwizzybee42 Год назад

@@SeanDobes It's not anything Mexico is doing. In general, sending soil across country boundaries is a no-no because it can harbor pests that are basically impossible to look for within the soil. Plants that are imported are usually "bare root" AKA with no soil. Just bringing muddy boots back on a flight from another country can be a whole thing if you were on farm land in that country. I'm not personally certain that this *should* be the rule for a country that shares a land border with us, but I don't know enough about pest pressures say in Mexico v. Texas to say.

@CooksFSH Год назад

Cuetlaxochitl actually means flower that feels like skin.

@lozoft9 Год назад

That's really cool b/c the bracts really do feel like skin, waxy and elastic

@CooksFSH Год назад

@dress for the dystopia you want they really do! This video was awsome, but wished they would have done a little more research on the name

@RainyDayWolf Год назад

Like leather... Yes

@iChillypepper Год назад

Was about to mention this

@savagepro9060 Год назад

Please do one on the beautiful plant The Bougainvillea, which was introduced into Europe from the western hemisphere, particularly from Brazil!

@Wasserkaktus Год назад

Not a big fan of it because it's a bit of a thorny, obnoxious weed in Arizona.

@Isa-vp4il Год назад

I love the bougainvillea

@shironerisilk Год назад

I'm from Brazil and had no idea the Bougainvillea was a native plant. On the other hand, a tree that looks like it's a native plant from Brazil (the Flamboyant tree) is native from Madagascar and was introduced in Brazil lol

@savagepro9060 Год назад

@@shironerisilk things go around because the world is , well, round, the plant is native to Brazil and Peru, it's all over the Caribbean island where I am right now. It LOVES the tropics.🤣

@lucianolucivan6600 Год назад

What about the ipês? I love all of their colors. Also amaryllis which is a common holiday plant that comes from Brasil.

@SoniQ93 Год назад

As a resident of the Greenville, SC area (home of Poinsett Highway, The Westin Poinsett & the Poinsett statue), I had no idea about the origins of the name "Poinsett". A real eye-opener, this one. Nice work!

@Hobbes360Live Год назад

I guess I'll need to find a new place to take photos with visitors who are in town. 😅

@Brownieizfaded Год назад

Omg me too! Born and raised here and never ever knew about the name until now!

@johnball8758 Год назад

Lived in Greenville all my life and never knew the dark side of Joel Poinsett. All I knew was the poinsettia was named after him. It's sickening to know we have a statue for such a racist, and it's only been there for a few years. Of course, we have a confederate statue too that nobody has bothered to remove.

@kiki13451 Год назад

I never realized until she said his name and my mind immediately went to poinsett highway😅

@okayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy Год назад

These plants have been such a staple of my life that I never even thought of where they’d come from - because of the name I’d always assumed they were European in origin. It’s going to take me some time to memorize cuetlaxochitl, but I absolutely will.

@christopherperez423 Год назад

In Mexico we call them Noche Buenas

@rachellereeve494 Год назад

'But, his legacy is a tainted one.' SURPRISE! Legacy reads like 19th Century Bingo.

@paemonyes8299 Год назад

He did introduce the plant to people in the States so it would make sense why the flower is named after him.

@FreshSmog Год назад

There's a ton of plants to rename if you want their geographical native names.

@Vim_Tim Год назад

The whole point is removing the name intended to honor a man with a long history of very problematic ethics. Most plants are not named after supremacists.

@henrylivingstone2971 Год назад

@@Vim_Tim Who cares? Poinsett’s foreign policy is unrelated to his work as an amateur botanist and proliferation and popularization of the plant. If it weren’t for him that plant wouldn’t have ever become a household Christmas decoration. Everyone’s making a big deal out of nothing.

@rykloog9578 Год назад

@@Vim_Tim ehh, I’m actually going to disagree with you there; While I don’t have the exact naming statistics on plants, if a plant is named after any european before 1900, they are most likely named after a supremacist.

@RainierKine Год назад

@@henrylivingstone2971 It's still the same person though.

@henrylivingstone2971 Год назад

@@RainierKine So? Who cares? Are we going to define everyone by their worst traits without regarding their role in the popularization or proliferation of the subject in question? He’s the one who popularized it. Before him it was little known outside of its native range. Are we just going to rename everything named after someone with a questionable past?

@growplants6559 Год назад

@1:15 ....A bract is not a leaf, although it is sometimes defined as a leaflike structure. Bracts usually differ in shape or color from leaves, and they function differently. Leaves may be anywhere along the stem while bracts are generally located on a stem just below a flower, a flower stalk, or an inflorescence. the top area of the Euphorbia pulcherrima shrub that changes colors are bracts and are not leaves.

@Biophile23 Год назад

A bract is a modified leaf. And for the layperson the distinction is minimal. The main thing is to let people know they are not petals. :)

@DaimyoD0 Год назад

@@Biophile23 I'm gonna say you're both right honestly IMO. Like the distinction is non-trivial, but I think it's most important to know that bracts are modified leaves. Like are bat wings hands? They're certainly more like hands than insect wings, but they're kinda not really hands anymore either. A forced metaphor but they're both homologous structures. Bat wings and bracts, I mean, not bat wings and insect wings lol

@Biophile23 Год назад

@@DaimyoD0 well at that level, a bat's wing is a hand. The scientific name for bats is chiroptera - hand -wing. Petals are also modified leaves. ;) But petals and sepals and other flower parts which are all modified leaves are much more specialized than bracts and have their own specific control genes. More like a whales flippers are also hands/arms. They are so modified you have to look inside of the structure to tell they are related.

@hopsiepike Год назад

They start out green, acting as photosynthesizing leaves, and later, the same organs turn color, functioning as bracts to attract pollinators. If you treat your purchased plant well, you will see that developmental transition occur yourself. It is not like bracts of other plants that have typically much smaller, and very differently shaped organs than the photosynthetic leaves. Bougainvillea is an example of bracts that develop as bracts from the outset.

@yadiaag7771 Год назад

Until I went to Mexico I thought the poinsettia was just a flower grown as a small flower like marigold. My grandma had a tree sized plant it was gorgeous and bright red. Wherever you went it was like Ruby Red gemstones sticking out in the forest.

@TheLordDracula Год назад

This one is a fascinating one. Since very few people know the history it feels like it's no longer honoring the person and instead it's transcended to just a plant name. But by educating people now it's going to become more associated with that guy. But if it doesn't get enough traction it will stay named the same. This feels like one of those times where ignorance is bliss. Though I'm always for education even if it doesn't lead to anything.

@richiejrich Год назад

Yeah I agree with this perspective. I don’t believe many people knew this toxic backstory about the name of the plant, but now we’re left in a weird place where it feels like more effort to rewire the name of a plant you rarely think of but have known for years, yet also be forced to reconcile with its history.

@13579hee Год назад

@@richiejrich I don't think it's weird at all.. and I'm saying that as a Black American descendant of U.S.slaves. I find it very interesting how people always want to be moan the history of white supremacist behavior when it comes from white Americans but not when it comes from White spaniards. Surely white Spaniards forcibly removed the native indigenous folks off of their own Mesoamerican land, force their language onto the people there, use coercive means of miscegenation to create a mixed race population and introduced their religion and what is a now modern Mexico by force. If we take an issue with calling it poinsettia then we have to take an issue with the Spanish language name for the plant and the ties that the name has to Christianity.. both of which were forced on to the native Mesoamerican people's by white Spaniard conquerors.

@Tracyinator Год назад

And so ya'll think every named thing should be reviewed to make sure it isn't associated with someone other than Jesus Christ.. the only perfect person to walk the earth?

@mirkoema Год назад

Luckily in Italy it has another name “stella di Natale”, christmas star… so no Poinsette issue ;)

@AndreaZzzXXX Год назад

stavo per scriverlo io :-) buon Natale !

@sainaro2335 Год назад

they mentioned the name christmas star in the intro! it's also christmas star (Kerstster) in the Netherlands!

@pottertheavenger1363 Год назад

As a Mexican I guess that's a better name than simply ignoring the original name as if one invented it

@luisviznews3836 Год назад

@@pottertheavenger1363 It’s still a way to remove the indigenous roots of the plant and Catholicize it, no better than Poinsettia

@Edward-gi7yp Год назад

Wow, that name sounds way cooler.

@lerbyn Год назад

In sweden we call it julstjärna (christmas star)

@RaymondHng Год назад

Pronounced _yool-HWER-nah_

@DenzelPF31 Год назад

Same in Germany "Weihnachtsstern"

@MrEugenio1994 Год назад

Same in Italy, stella di Natale

@Bishop38f8 Год назад

I think this is true for most of Europe. Vánoční Hvězda in Czech Republic.

@kaitlyn__L Год назад

It’s wild how many rich dudes got stuff renamed after them, and some people have the gall to say efforts like this “attempt to erase history” when they’re actually revealing previously-buried history.

@Reptilias Год назад

But the aztecs were engaged in brutal human sacrifices and cannibalism as a part of their religion. Maybe we should not use the aztec name eiter? 😮

@kaitlyn__L Год назад

@@Reptilias I’m not sure why you think this about the morality of the people, it’s about stealing credit. I wouldn’t recommend replacing the ancient Greek names for plants native to Greece either, despite everything problematic those societies engaged in.

@Reptilias Год назад

@@kaitlyn__L ok, I still think it’s too simplistic to think of all of this as stealing credit. By the same logic, we should not be using terms as America, voltage, Polonium or even call planets by their names. All of these things existed prior to them being named this way by scientists/discoverers etc.. In my mind, it’s great that we honour some of the discoverers and scientists by naming things after them as they sail oceans, devise scientific theories, describe things with precision or spread them to the rest of the civilisation for everyone to enjoy. The aztecs did not spread this plant all across the globe, so perhaps it makes sense they only get an honourable mention.

@RyokoAsakuraLastFan Год назад

I think its relatively hard to change something as a name, thats been used in a culture for over a century. It basically lost all reference to Poinsett the person, to the point its simply the English translation to the Flower. Lastly its odd that the video didn't mention why it was so easy to influence the Mexican Government of the 1800s. It was in political Turmoil From its newly independence of Spain, the uprising against the Emperor and then multiple political factions that developed, shifted, and siezed power from each other

@someguy892 Год назад

I wish more people understood that. Their are so many names with dark histories that most people are unaware of or simply don't care. Imagine is people knew the meaning behined the song "London Bridge". It would not be a child's folk tale for long.

@galacticcat8464 Год назад

Kind of what I was thinking. The cultural climate of Mexico at that point in time (and still) was very racist. The philosophy of one foreigner isn’t going change much. Also, growing up calling the flower Noche Buena I just took Pointsetta to be it’s translation. Words develop new meanings over time.

@adog3129 Год назад

"it's okay to start a secret society to steal land from your neighbors! they're in political turmoil so it doesn't count!"

@esagecantu Год назад

Thank you for this chapter. We need to have more story how American culture is influenced by the neighbors nearby. As a Mexican, I want to be seen and not erased like we did not exist.

@pyrolight7568 Год назад

No one is erasing you. Americans used to be able to celebrate cultures that influenced them until it because cultural appropriation. The only people erasing Mexican culture are Mexicans like yourself. Also stuff gets a common name all the time. Have you ever used a bandaid?

@MSanz-jc2bg Год назад

Very true.

@miguelservetus9534 Год назад

Who is erasing you like you don’t exist? Examples would help your position.

@Tracyinator Год назад

I see you are commenting on this site. Who has or is erasing you?

@kit4616 Год назад

@@Tracyinator Erasure is a complicated but very real issue for all sorts of people. In the context of discussion around North America, a lot of people focus on the US and Canada and sort of ignore the fact that Mexico exists. It does happen whether you believe it or not.

@sophiaslays757 Год назад

So now we all gotta change what we call a flower just because the person that brought it to the us was horrible? Im amazed how much effort from a major news company was put into talking about a flower and why we all need to change what we call it . Me calling it a poinstetta isnt hurting anyone

@aadams1006 Год назад

Don't you know you're supposed to feel guilty about everything that ever happened even before your birth?

@171QA Год назад

We used to have these flowers in our house every Christmas. But not anymore because we have a dog and didn’t want him to eat them by accident.

@PLuMUK54 Год назад

Same here.

@RedxRiot Год назад

They’re curious little guys 🤣

@sirsnakespeare Год назад

Oh i know this plant! We called it katusba/kastuba, The green leaves is a very well known delicacy in sundanese household. The way we ate it is we picked the green leaves and we boiled it until it soften and we dipped it in sambal! Although i think the one we ate is the wild one, since it grow quite tall.

@Bowie_E Год назад

That's really cool!

@skaldlouiscyphre2453 Год назад

Interesting. I hope that method works for the ones they sell around this time of year.

@AnnaWillo Год назад

@@skaldlouiscyphre2453 nooo don't eat decorative plants, they are not grown in a food safe way like the ones grown for food

@skaldlouiscyphre2453 Год назад

@@AnnaWillo How am I supposed to get my own ChubbyEmu video without taking risks?

@adityasixviandyj7334 Год назад

yes! I'm an Indonesian (live in Indonesia too) My mom also called it Katsuba, and our store here also called as Katsuba rather be Poinsettia. They also came in white (very pale green) & pink color too. My mom said it's due high sun exposure all year long, if you want the red color, it's should be place in well lit shaded area. Many planter here use Paranett with shade rating 70% to achieve it without using greenhouse.

@kap79 Год назад

I never knew any of this. Thank you for the history lesson, and a fascinating look this plant I love during the holidays.

@WestCozastRamone Год назад

3:44 The US never owned British Colombia as far as I'm aware.

@FullyCharged22 Год назад

Expecting honesty from a video in this channel...?

@lafq Год назад

Colombia was never British, as far as I’m aware

@skaldlouiscyphre2453 Год назад

There never was a British Colombia. Columbia District on the other hand used to overlap with Oregon Territory. Columbia District eventually became British Columbia.

@stefannikola Год назад

Thank you, Ranjani. I always enjoy your videos, both your topics and your style. I’m 54 years old and I’d like to let you know that I’ve loved poinsettias since I was a very young boy, probably since age 5 when I was in kindergarten, when my father took me along to buy some poinsettias for my mother and grandmother and I exuberantly exclaimed upon seeing them, “We’re at the North Pole!” I was quite convinced that we had taken a car ride to that storied location as evidenced by the seemingly endless expanse of red and white poinsettia flowers, although we were, in fact, in a greenhouse somewhere in central Pennsylvania about thirty minutes from home. Over the years, I’ve read articles every November and December about poinsettias and their history as those articles popped up as holiday features in the news media. In fact, I was aware of every single point you brought up in your informative and elegantly presented video just by reading those holiday articles since my teenage years until now. My point for you is this; please lose the censoriousness that your generation so loves to indulge in. I love foreign languages and foreign cultures, and I will gladly add to my active vocabulary of names for my favorite flower the original name of cuetlaxochitl, a name that I’ve been aware of for decades, but I’ll also still call it a poinsettia because that name is a part of its history, too. Life isn’t always about stomping out the negativity and darkness in a fit of spiritual perfectionism brought on by self-help-book fanaticism and an overweening attitude of social justice. It’s also about integrating the positive and the negative, the light and the dark, so that you can have inclusive and cohesive wholeness. Merry Christmas!

@damnjustassignmeone Год назад

99.9% of people have never heard of this “Poinset” guy and don’t associate him with the plant. Given that, does it matter if that’s where the name comes from? I think we have bigger things to worry about in life.

@phantablue Год назад

I love learning about things I would have never learnt without Vox ❤ Great work

@higgs3131 Год назад

Today I learned white man is bad

@hannahk1306 Год назад

It would have been nice to touch upon it's modern day usage around the world, like you did with the US. For example, they're fairly popular here in the UK and it seems unrealistic to import them from Mexico. Even if you just quickly flashed up a map of countries that have them around Christmastime and where those countries grow them.

@tonygoinggonzo Год назад

@3:47 Don't know who drew that map, but while the US claimed all of Pacific Northwest/Oregon County, they never actually occupied BC in any meaningful numbers. There was also a competing counterclaim from Hudson Bay Company/Great Britain for all territory down to the Columbia River, which included today's Washington and chunks of Idaho and Montana. Border wasn't officially settled until 1846.

@Spencer481 Год назад

I'm not against renaming it but "flower that withers" is a D tier name.

@theprecipiceofreason Год назад

You're kidding me right? A man born in 1779 was a racist, imperialistic, megalomaniac? I'm shocked. Shocked.

@lebrown5075 Год назад

But renaming this one plant (that most people do not even realize is named for a person anyway) will free all the souls of those he wronged in his lifetime and "fix" colonialism ....right?

@Handle35667 Год назад

Virtue signal more please.

@cachecow Год назад

To be on the safe side we'll just have to name everything with numbers.

@funcisco Год назад

In Paraguay and Argentina, we call this plant 'estrella federal' which means 'federal star'.

@Christiangjf Год назад

Now I want to know the history of that name

@funcisco Год назад

@@Christiangjf It has to do with Argentinian history that I'm not familiar with (something about the May Revolution). Since Argentina is closer than Mexico, it makes sense that we use that name in Paraguay too.

@luminousmoon86 Год назад

I think you could certainly make a case for transitioning the American English term for the plant to "The Christmas Flower" or something like that, but "cuetlaxochitl" would be a harder sell. Most native English speakers would have no idea how to read that word and pronounce it correctly, since it uses phonemes not found in the English language.

@MortyMortyMorty Год назад

In my country it's literally called Santa-flower

@savagepro9060 Год назад

you HAVE a country? wow!🤣

@MortyMortyMorty Год назад

@@savagepro9060 Bro I am the president, know who you talk to... 😠😠

@savagepro9060 Год назад

@@MortyMortyMorty Oh God, I'm sorry sir.🤭🤭

@gilshelley9183 Год назад

Joel Poinsett was a great botanist. He was a man of his times. You should be so influential.

@Fan_of_Ado Год назад

A name is just a name. Most people don't know the origin of the name and thus the name itself cannot be considered racist. It is a waste of resources to attempt convincing everyone to change the it, especially to one which I bet most of the population will be unable to pronounce.

@tytania3545 Год назад

In Puerto Rico we call them PASCUAS or FLOR DE PASCUA (Xmas flower).

@antonioricaud5308 Год назад

But doesn't Pascua mean Easter?

@maferdelcid9359 Год назад

@@antonioricaud5308 It does too, in Guatemala we also call them Pascuas but it's refering to xmas.

@MrPwnageMachine Год назад

Friendly reminder to buy locally, wherever you live. In this case, importing Mexican plants when they can be grown closer to the market that buys them just doesn’t make sense environmentally.

@alejandrosoto4322 Год назад

Yet, due to the trade treaties, the US has manged to be able to sell plants, fruits and vegetables to Mexico. While blocking Mexico of doing the same.

@Josh270219 Год назад

Not always. Poinsettias just grow naturally in many regions in Mexico and you can see many blooming now out in the streets, whereas you'd need expensive and less environment-friendly greenhouses to grow them in most of the States.

@TL-mc6lz Год назад

@@Brap-pl2me Haha! I just tell myself, it's the thought that counts and then do whatever is most convenient. That usually assuages my guilty conscience about a multitude of things for a good while at least.

@peterschmidt5583 Год назад

I already posted this comment above but I will copy it and paste it here for you as well. The topic is much more nuanced than you realize. It actually isn't very carbon intensive to grow plants long distances away if the method of cultivating them is somehow more efficient. Considering how many plants (or whatever else) go into shipping container, box car, or semi-trailer the carbon footprint is quite small, per item. Often times, the carbon footprint is actually highest, when talking about transportation, when going from the grocery store to the consumer's home. It is far less carbon intensive to transport hundreds of items in one vehicle than to transport 1 item on hundreds of vehicles, even over a relatively short distance. It really depends on a lot of factors if it is less carbon intensive to grow a plant domestically or internationally. It has far more to do with the soil and climate in the two locations than it has to do with the carbon emitted from transit. As someone who studied sustainable agriculture, I never realized this until actually doing calculating the carbon footprint of lettuce produced at the vertical urban farm I interned at. Local food is better for the community because you're (potentially) supporting local small businesses and things like this. It is good for the social aspects but no because it is actually better for the environment, at least no inherently. Each case needs to be evaluated individually.

@mikeymike1994 Год назад

Woke Uno! I love this. Whose gonna use the reverse victim climate card??

@today273 Год назад

I love this flower 🌹 thanks for the history

@cbleslie Год назад

Do you provide a page that shows sources for the information in your videos. I want to learn more.

@noahgill3257 Год назад

They have additional sources in the description.

@oliviac2585 Год назад

If you click "show more" in the description they linked a few sources!

@RS-xb9lo Год назад

I feel like the legacy of the plant has far outlived the man of origin, so thus I think the name Poinsettias has lived past its controversial origins, and therefore doesn't need to be changed.

@seeley4981 Год назад

That's really not how it works...

@MurrayPeeps Год назад

This was fascinating. My partner brought home a tiny plant from her office seven years ago this week, and we now own an enormous cuetlaxochitl shrub that blooms red once a year. It’s so large, it takes almost the entire year for all of the red leaves to fall. More people should save their office plants!

@luissantiagomijareso.2450 Год назад

It is a beautiful and noble plant. Here in México you can see it anywhere, my grandma gave her friend a small plant (Coincidentally seven years ago too) from a shrub of her villa, and when we got to see her friend on this year, that little branch became another beautiful shrub.

@EndyMX Год назад

@@luissantiagomijareso.2450 I meant, we want to see YOUR noche buena. I'm from Mexico as well :)

@LittleWaffle Год назад

This was a fascinating episode, thank you for shedding light on this plant's history and its unsavoury namesake ! I had no idea, I'll be remembering indigenous people of Mexico whenever I see this plant now ❤️ I'd be delighted to see more episodes like this one, if you feel like it 😊

@sergioeduardorodrigueztrej3406 Год назад

As a mexican, it is amazing to see this kind of videos. Also, great nails.

@NadirAgha Год назад

It's a better video title than your usual "Why this Christmas plant should be renamed?"

@DaimyoD0 Год назад

Yeah I agree

@stuiesmb Год назад

Or the "You'll never guess the genocidal history of this plant"

@mehere8038 Год назад

Kinda fascinates me that this plant is a big deal at summer Christmas' in Australia too - & with that name with so much baggage attached to it, that I had no idea on & doubt any Aussie has any idea on (and probably most Americans don't even know). I looked at buying one to grow once, till I learnt it's red in winter & our Christmas of course is in the middle of Summer, but they're specially breed or imported to give us red flowers for Christmas here too. I feel like we probably should just replace them with a native Aussie or Kiwi plant, rather than trying to change the name

@joeyhandles Год назад

y'all'll do that soon as you stop coping everything americans do

@mehere8038 Год назад

@@joeyhandles hmm not sure we really copy you more than you copy us, at least when comparing population sizes. I'd say there's more than 13 times the Aussie influence in the US as there is US influence in Oz, I mean look at how many of "your" movie stars are Aussies, just for starters 😛

@jennywithaglock3916 Год назад

@@joeyhandles we dont copy america. no one wants to be america. I'll take out free healthcare, solid welfare system and lack of war crimes in the middle east and 'ghetto-ising' redlining any day.

@RaymondHng Год назад

@@mehere8038 When I visited Sydney, I saw a lot of American brands: Starbucks, McDonald's, Ford Motor, Hungry Jack (Burger King). Australia is like our neighbors to the west. (Having a Tim Tam slam while I'm typing this.)

@lunayen Год назад

@@RaymondHng That's because these franchises expanded to these countries.

@wonderfulrosa Год назад

I didn’t know that noches buenas were from Mexico and I live here haha. But I really learned something new today and loved here the original name

@ACC-2929 Год назад

This explains a lot. I’ve always seen them as a big decor piece for my family in Mexico, but recently noticed how there’s huge tree sized ones in people’s gardens and they’re red in August. I’ve always bought them for my home here in the US bc I felt like it was a Mexican tradition, but never knew how deep the roots were to the area my family is from (including Taxco!). Thanks for the video.

@Alpherix Год назад

Love this episode of the missing chapter and the flowers! keep it going!

@spoon7313 Год назад

As a history major, I know how hard it is to find interesting stories like these. Thanks vox for sharing another interesting story.

@daphnesawyer8555 Год назад

Thank you for covering this 🙏🏻

@seatspud Год назад

Me: that Red Christmas Plant. Boom, done.

@ledfarmer100 Год назад

As an American florist employee who helped grow a greenhouse full of poinsettias this season, I had no idea about the origin of their name. Poinsett was very racist and enacted atrocities, but unfortunately the name has stuck to a point where if we started calling our crop something other then poinsettia, people would not know what we’re talking about. Everyone in the industry and every customer uses the name poinsettia. Changing the name at our shop, over the phone, on our website, and explaining the name change to thousands of customers is not practical and would result in confusion and less sales. The name poinsettia may just have to be an interesting talking point about American history.

@SHEAdTeeVee Год назад

I think its an instantly recognizable plant that people would still buy if the name was changed in the store or online. Maybe try there and tell people it's the original name of the plant. No need to go into more detail than that. Getting customers introduced to the name and getting the conversation started is better than nothing.

@PSNDonutDude Год назад

You could begin the change. Call it the indigenous name, but put in brackets (Poinsettia) and provide a bit of history about the name. That way people can learn, and will still be able to recognize and purchase the plant. Slowly the old name could be removed, but slow changes allow our society to change and it's business owners and people who care to make those small changes happen.

@MrPwnageMachine Год назад

Whatever makes people feel better

@Daymickey Год назад

I see your point. That makes sense. Perhaps it has to reach critical mass before officially changing anything. Like we should all just casually call it Christmas flower to other people throughout our life until it catches on.

@AnnaWillo Год назад

You could ease people into it by putting the name in parentheses first, then start marketing it more heavily as the new name over time. Rebranding old things as a new thing happens all the time! It can happen. Maybe you could pick an especially good variety and just refer to it as the new name.

@UraidTariq Год назад

Can’t believe that this content with the best animations and Commentary is avalable for free on RU-vid. I used to watch history documentaries on netflix but since I have found this channel I cancelled my Netflix subscription. Keep it up Vox!

@SomeKidFromBritain Год назад

simp

@jynxie17 Год назад

Thanks for explaining the potted plant vs the tree. I grew up seeing the tree in my home country and always wondered if it was the same plants.

@NickB-Philly-UI-Guy Год назад

Wow. Amazing to know this. Love how you explain these topics!

@thegrtgazoo Год назад

Changing the name of the plant literally does nothing. it doesnt change history. It takes nothing away from the guy.

@afonsords Год назад

DIsagree, changing the name does one thing. Signals your "virtue" lol

@cocopen3415 Год назад

Excellent reporting. Great graphics also

@rjwh67220 Год назад

I like the way you overlaid the illustrations over the blank pages. A nice touch that really enhanced your video. Oh yeah, very interesting, too.

@chrisaddison1742 Год назад

I still like these longer format videos over the shorts.

@pegasustargaryen Год назад

In Germany, it is called the Christmas star

@mehere8038 Год назад

personally I'd prefer to switch to a name like that if we have to switch, simplicity in names is popular in Australia, wonder how we ever got the American name instead of the German one when your name fits better with our naming rules. We have "gum trees" - cause they have gummy stuff on them, "Blue mountains" - cause the gumtree oil gives them a blue colour, "Snowy Mountains" - cause it snows there, "Great Barrier Reef" - cause it's a reef that forms a really long barrier for ships & waves, "Kakadu plum" - a plum like fruit found in Kakadu, "Finger limes" - lime family member with finger shaped fruits & on & on. We like naming stuff simply :)

@ADMusic1999 Год назад

Most aspects of Christmas come from other cultures and that's the beauty of it. Different traditions from around the world and from different time periods come together for this one day we can all celebrate and appreciate. When I see a poinsettia, I don't think of Mexico or America - I think of Christmas.

@lunayen Год назад

That's nice, but this isn't about you.

@VPZealouZ Год назад

@@lunayen So people don’t get to have a say on their views?

@michpottier Год назад

Great piece but it should be noted that the USA does not specifically pinpoint mexico with regards to poinsettia production, no country can easily import to the USA.

@crayonburry Год назад

Had no clue about this, what an interesting history.

@ChrisKeller1808 Год назад

I think I just lost brain cells watching this.

@RainierKine Год назад

Use the chinese name, 一品红, literally call it "something red" 😆

@NovelNovelist Год назад

Oh really, its name meant, "flower that withers?" ...that's not a vague and confusing description of a FLOWER at all.

@anbu1325 Год назад

In Germany we call it "Weihnachtsstern" - literally "Christmas Star".

@TheKbrizzle81 Год назад

That Statue of Poinsett can be found in my hometown of Greenville SC. It sits adjacent to the Westin Poinsett Hotel, along Main Street.

@JustANervousWreck Год назад

Also from Greenville, we also have multiple poinsett streets, the Poinsett Club, and businesses named after him

@AnnaWillo Год назад

Let's knock it over and melt it down into nice bronze pots for the flowers

@IOwnKazakhstan Год назад

I don't think I've ever even seen one of these, I live in Australia, I'm not religious but I do some christian holidays anyways, pretty normal, but I've never seen one of them. There are a lot of areas that have what is called a dual name, a legal name that is both the first nations name and the european one. eg, Kati Thanda / Lake Eyre. Uluru / Ayers Rock. So doing this would be great in the US, you don't have to entirely change the name, people will likely still use the old one, so you can use dual names, everyone can be happy.

@annemiura7767 Год назад

In Australia they grow in the north, northern NSW and Qld. They grow in the winter so you won’t see them at Christmas. Good idea to have an indigenous name for this spectacular plant.

@Ozraptor4 Год назад

They’ve always been extremely popular in the areas around Australia where I live (Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne) and are sold in vast quantities at various retailers (Coles, Woolworths, IKEA, Waldecks, Iga etc) in Summer. We used to have a tree variety growing in our garden.

@IOwnKazakhstan Год назад

@@Ozraptor4 Yeah I live in adelaide but maybe I just haven't seen them or don't remember. As I said I'm not religious and just do christmas for the fun of it so i guess it's maybe part of the more traditional christmas.

@WanukeX Год назад

3:54 - That isint even the only time that has happened to a US ambassador to mexico, US ambassador Henry Lane Wilson got sacked for his involvement in a 1913 coup d’état.

@LeifES Год назад

In Scandinavia it is called "Christmas Star" (NO/DK: Julestjerne, SE: Julstjärna).

@paladin2021 Год назад

Thanks for telling us about a guy we didnt even know, reattach this bad meaning to the plant, and now establish his legacy in our minds when we think about this plant. 👍

@aadams1006 Год назад

I know, right? It's like we're looking back into history to find people to cancel.

@tyreederrick5 Год назад

Anytime I hear these videos say someone’s history is tainted, my sarcasm jumps out like “WOW I CAN’T BELIEVE IT”😂. Still interesting to learn about

@TheWorriedCat Год назад

Would have never learned this valuable information if it were not for this wonderful video! Thank you!

@AchtungAffen Год назад

It is known as Estrella Federal here, I believe because of Juan Manuel de Rosas. My mom always has them and told me from childhood it was poisonous. Not sure how true that is.

@heath2694 Год назад

I love Vox. Thank you again for your reporting and teaching. ❤️

@merrymachiavelli2041 Год назад

On the point at 06:11 The idea that there is some injustice in growing a plant domestically instead of importing it from its native range is pretty dubious. Where does that end? Most domesticated or potted plants grown in any given country are not native to that country.

@freshtodeath Год назад

this was so insightful! thank you for making this video! I wish i could help you!

@lllluka Год назад

Turkey wants their country's name to be changed to 'Türkiye'. Are some international organizations etc. going to change it? Yes, and some already have. Is the average person outside Turkey going to write 'Türkiye'? No, because 'Turkey' (or whatever the name is in other languages) is already a very established name for the country. And the same applies to the poinsettia. People are going to continue to say 'poinsettia' because it's a word that works. It's a relatively easy word to say and isn't conflated with any other word.

@novostranger Год назад

These plants are really uncommon in my country

@milanbikics3144 Год назад

In Hungary it's called Santa Claus flower

@PokeMaster22222 Год назад

I've literally never seen this plant before...as I'm an Aussie. The plant does look rather unique, regardless of its name; I can see why so many people like it.

@kenoben007 Год назад

US iterveining México ? That could not be possibly true, oh my

@fv4594 Год назад

What a well-done history video. Thank you for this piece!

@spaghettiisyummy.3623 Год назад

Flame Leaf is a cool name... I wanna use it now...

@aldoleyvam Год назад

Thank you very much for this information, I make my living from this plants and I must admit I had no idea of its history. Greetings from sunny Mexico 😎.

@afharris7 Год назад

This was very well done 💖

@AshArAis Год назад

Ah here we go, some lad sticks his name on something

@Zed_Oud Год назад

Point-set-tia This is how I hear everyone say it. Mispronounce it entirely if you disapprove of him. Point-say-shuh Or just say it wrong? I like this one