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Some facts about the popular poinsettia & other Christmas plants

Eloise Ogden/MDN “The actual part of the poinsettia that is toxic is the little tiny flowers in the center of the leaf clusters. The actual red and green leaves are not poisonous,” said James Lowe of Lowe’s Floral in Minot. Poinsettias can be kept around children and animals with some precautions.

Fact or fiction. Are poinsettia plants poisonous or not?

James Lowe, AIFD, CFD, manager of Lowe’s Floral in Minot, explains information about the popular Christmas season poinsettia plant and other popular plants of the season.

According to information about plants provided by the North Dakota Department of Health’s Poison Control, the poinsettia is listed with other plants that “may be mildly toxic or may easily be confused with toxic plants. However, since they are only mildly poisonous, they can be kept around children with some precautions.”

“The actual part of the poinsettia that is toxic is the little tiny flowers in the center of the leaf clusters. The actual red and green leaves are not poisonous. The flowers are very, very small and it would take a lot of them in an adult to build up the toxicity,” Lowe said.

He said Poison Control lists poinsettia on its mildly toxic list and they do have it listed if a small child or animal consumes a poinsettia, you may want to call Poison Control, but again, it’s just the tiny flowers and not the big red (or green or pink or white) leaves, he said.

Lowe said very few people have contacted their business with a concern about the poinsettia plant.

The poinsettia actually is native to the Yucatan Peninsula, Lowe said.

“One of the most common calls we get around this time of the year is ‘how do I get my poinsettia to turn red for Christmas?’ “ he said.

“Unfortunately, if you are calling now you are about a half year too late,” he said. “The process starts in July by cutting the poinsettia back and ideally it should be outside getting as much sunlight as possible, then you pinch back the centers of the actual branches in August. Every time you pinch back the center it creates a split so it gets bushier, then right around September you need to start shortening the days,” he said. He said the plant needs to be in a completely darkened place whether it’s a basement, closet or unused spare bedroom.

“It needs to be in the dark for 12 or more hours every day but then every morning you have to wake the plant back up and take it into full sunlight. You have to do that all the way through about Thanksgiving week to ensure that it sets its color. Any disruption in that day-night balance and it will stall and stop changing color so you could end up with a partially red poinsettia or a slightly splotchy green poinsettia,” he said.

The poinsettia requires “a lot of babysitting,” over months,” he said.

Sales of poinsettias and other Christmas plants as well as live Christmas trees will be starting around Thanksgiving week, especially toward the weekend, Lowe said.

The mistletoe, another plant that people associate with the Christmas season, is highly toxic, Lowe said. Because of that their business no longer carries actual mistletoe.

“Their white berries are very poisonous, the green leaves are mildly poisonous,” Lowe said. He said the mistletoe is listed on the highly toxic or dangerous list by state Poison Control. He said this means it’s highly toxic to humans and animals.

Other Christmas plants like the Norfolk Island Pine and the Christmas Cactus are on the safe list, Lowe said.

He said the Norfolk Island Pine is an interesting plant. “Even at maturity they remain highly flexible – the main trunk and all,” he said. He said the Norfolk Island Pine is native to the Sandwich Islands (where they grow to 200-feet high) and were actually discovered by Captain Cook’s crew (in the 1700s).

“They can be decorated just like a Christmas tree but you need to make sure you are using very light ornaments and a very light strand if you are using lights because they are so flexible that any amount of weight will cause the branches to bend and it won’t look good,” Lowe said.

“We sell more at Christmas than any other time of the year because they do look like miniature Christmas trees and they’re something you can have indoors yearround.

He said people also will buy live, potted actual pine trees and use them as a Christmas tree indoors. “The concern with a live, potted pine tree which can be indoors is that you get about a 10-day window. If it stays in the house for more than that 10-day window, then it’s come out of its dormancy and climatized to your house so it’s going to have to live in the house with you until spring.”

He said people who plan to have a live, potted Christmas tree ideally should predig a hole in the yard where they’re going to plant it and after that 10-days in the house for Christmas, pop it right into the ground. Or if it cannot be planted, they can use a big pile of leaves, wood chips or something to mulch the root ball of that tree, store it outside and then plant the tree when the weather is nice.

Another plant popular during the Christmas season, the  Christmas cactus, is completely safe and is not toxic, Lowe said. “They do put on beautiful flowers and they’re triggered by the same lighting conditions the poinsettias are,” he said. He said the Christmas cactus starts flowering around Christmas naturally because the day-night balance here is very similar. As the days get shorter they start to flower.

The Christmas Cactus usually is available in three colors. “There’s a very, very hot pink, a red and a white,” Lowe said. He won’t have it available this year but has in production a Christmas Cactus with yellow flowers. He said it is a succulent so it should dry out thoroughly between waterings. “When they’re in bloom, you need to up the watering,” he said.

For more information contact N.D. Poison Control at ndpoison.org/contactus/index.htm or call 1-800-222-1222. The N.D. Department of Health contracts with the Minnesota Poison Control System to manage all poison exposure calls for North Dakota.

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