Poinsettias a Christmas symbol, but poisonous to pets

Dec. 22—Poinsettias have become a Christmas tradition in America, but an expert said to be cautious having the plant around your pets because poinsettias are poisonous to dogs and cats.

Poinsettias were named after an American botany enthusiast, Joel Roberts Poinsett, who was the first U.S. minister, or ambassador, to Mexico in the early 19th century. Kristen Bentley, co-owner of Simpson's Florist in Decatur, said poinsettias originated in Mexico.

According to an Associated Press account, "Poinsett, who was interested in science as well as potential cash crops, sent clippings of the plant to his home in South Carolina and to a botanist in Philadelphia, who affixed the eponymous name to the plant in gratitude." The plant's cultivation, according to The AP, dates to the Aztec empire 500 years ago.

"Among Nahuatl-speaking communities of Mexico, the plant is known as the cuetlaxochitl (kwet-la-SHO-sheet), meaning 'flower that withers," according to The AP.

Since then, the plants now called poinsettias have spread across America and to Europe.

Poinsettias have taken on symbolic meaning, Bentley said.

"The shape of the leaves symbolizes the Star of Bethlehem," she said. "The red represents the crucifixion, like the blood sacrifice of Jesus."

One reason poinsettias have probably remained a symbol at Christmastime, Bentley said, is because of their beauty.

"There's not many flowers associated directly with Christmas, so it's like a cultural thing that we've just always had them here ever since then," she said.

Bentley said her florist shop sells many poinsettias this time of year.

"Between our churches and personal use, it's in the 100s for sure," she said.

Decatur Veterinarian Dr. Steve Osborne of Osborne Animal Clinic said poinsettias are poisonous to dogs and cats. He said certain things must be present for there to be a poisoning.

"You have to have the presence of the poisonous plant, you have to have access, which, if we're going to have the poisonous plant then obviously they're in the house and we have to deny access, and we have to look for special situations that might be different today than all the other days in the year where we don't eat the plant," Osborne said.

Osborne said usually if you break that cycle, poisoning will not occur. There are usually certain circumstances, Osborne said, where your pet would eat the plant.

"A nervous animal or an animal that has separation anxiety or an animal that's particularly hungry, that kind of a situation where they might go over and eat those things. Having (a poinsettia) in the proximity of the floor is another thing, or next to a table they can climb up on, back of a couch they can get to," he said. "One of the things we do sometimes is withhold food from animals for trips and for planes or surgery. So, if you in a scenario where you are doing something like that, you might have a greater likelihood of them getting into it."

Osborne said in those situations you should take extra precautions. He said poison absorption takes an hour or two. Osborne said, as with any poisoning, you should immediately get the poison out of your pet by inducing vomiting, if your pet is still conscience.

"The best way to do that is the judicious use of hydrogen peroxide at home orally. ... You can call a vet or poison control and they can tell you how to induce doing that," he said. "If it's within hours and you can get straight to your veterinarian, they can handle that; there's a couple different ways of doing that."

Osborne said poinsettias are mostly a gastrointestinal tract irritant, but it can also irritate your pets' skin.

"When you break the limbs or whatever, there's kind of a milky sap that comes out of there, and that's irritating," he said. "If we think we've got skin exposure, we want to use a soap to wash that off with."

The fluid from a broken limb, Osborne said, can also irritate your pets' eyes. He said in this case, flush your pets' eyes with water.

Even the "poinsettias" name has become poisonous to some people — figuratively speaking, as the 19th century diplomat has become part of 21st century politics.

"Unvarnished published accounts reveal Poinsett as a disruptive advocate for business interests abroad, a slaveholder on a rice plantation in the U.S., and a secretary of war who helped oversee the forced removal of Native Americans, including the westward relocation of Cherokee populations to Oklahoma known as the 'Trail of Tears," according to The Associated Press.

Year-end holiday markets in Latin America brim with the potted plant known in Spanish as the "flor de Nochebuena," or "flower of Christmas Eve," which is entwined with celebrations of the night before Christmas. The "Nochebuena" name is traced to early Franciscan friars who arrived from Spain in the 16th century. Spaniards once called it "scarlet cloth."

"Cuetaxochitl" is winning over some enthusiasts among Mexican youths, including the diaspora in the U.S., according to Elena Jackson Albarrán, a professor of Mexican history and global and intercultural studies at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

"I've seen a trend towards people openly saying: 'Don't call this flower either poinsettia or Nochebuena. It's cuetlaxochitl,'" said Jackson Albarrán. "There's going to be a big cohort of people who are like, 'Who cares?'"

—erica.smith@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2460. Associated Press reporter Morgan Lee contributed to this story.