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Missouri Ag News Headlines |
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Holiday Plants
By: Jennifer Schutter, University of Missouri - 12/12/2017
During the holiday season, decorated trees, twinkling lights and familiar carols create a festive atmosphere. Certain plants play key roles as well. Church altars are adorned with poinsettias, mistletoe hangs over doorways, and holly is used in floral arrangements.
The poinsettia, the most popular holiday plant, was introduced into the United States by the first United States ambassador to Mexico, Joel Roberts Poinsett. He had some poinsettias sent to his home in Greenville,
South Carolina in 1825 where he began propagating the plants in his greenhouses on his plantation. He sent poinsettias to friends and botanical gardens.
Today, poinsettias come in many colors and forms. New selections appear in the market every year. An interesting point about poinsettias is their flowers. The true flowers are small, inconspicuous, and yellow in color. The showy red parts, often called flowers,
are not parts of the flower. They are modified petal-like leaves, called bracts. The bracts are formed below each flower. When caring for a poinsettia, place it in a well-lit room away from a drafty window. Water the plant when the soil feels dry to the touch.
Over- watering can lead to root rot and death of the plant.
Holly adds visual interest to a landscape in winter months. Holly plants come in all sizes, ranging from spreading dwarf holly shrubs 6 inches in height to holly trees 70 feet tall. Their shapes vary from rounded to pyramidal to columnar. English holly (Ilex
aquifolium) and American holly (Ilex opaca) are the most commonly used in holiday decorations, due to their striking evergreen foliage. All holly trees and shrubs are dioecious. Male and female plants must be planted within 30 - 40 feet of each other for berry
production.
Mistletoe is a flowering plant which obtains nutrition by living on and parasitizing other plants. By parasitizing other higher plants, they have a competitive advantage over many other forms of life because they do not have to compete in soil for water and nutrients.
Mistletoe originated in the tropics where soils are typically poor in nutrients and competition within the soil between plants and microorganisms is fierce. The berries of mistletoe are poisonous.
Christmas trees have been sold commercially in the United States since 1850. Christmas tree farms increased in number during the depression. Nurseries could not sell their evergreens for landscaping, so they cut them for Christmas trees. Cultivated trees were
preferred because of a more symmetrical shape than native trees. Approximately 26 million Christmas trees are produced each year. The best selling trees are Scotch pine, Douglas fir, Noble fir, Fraser fir,
Virginia pine, Balsam fir and White Pine. Christmas trees take an average of 7-10 years to mature. Ever since the first Christmas tree retail lot was set up on the streets of New York City in 1851, Americans have been enjoying the tradition of a live tree to
celebrate the holiday season. Consumers can enjoy a fresh tree throughout the holidays with proper selection and care.
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