Noche Buena
I always assumed poinsettia was a Christmas flower because the colors are right.
And I’m sure that is part of it, but these picky flowers bloom only at Christmastime (wintertime) because they burst into red when the daylength is 11 hours, rather than the 12-13 the rest of the year. How do they even notice such a “small” change? Creation is fascinating.
Here they’re called nochebuena, which is Christmas Eve - good night. There’s even a seasonal beer by that name, with the poinsettia logo - tastes alright!
Nochebuena is a great name for this shrub; poinsettia is just named after a man who brought it to the US.
We’re mostly seeing red flowers, though they come in many colors. It will be a sad week when we realize they’re gone, except we’ll be cheered by the (slightly) longer days.