AGRICULTURE REPORT - A Flower in Winter: The Poinsettia's St

AGRICULTURE REPORT - A Flower in Winter: The Poinsettia's Story
By Mario Ritter

Broadcast: Tuesday, December 13, 2005

I'm Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

In many colder northern countries, poinsettias are a sure sign that Christmas is near. Nearly all sales of this flowering plant come at wintertime. Yet the poinsettia is native to Central America and needs warm weather to grow.

 
Poinsettia
Red poinsettias are the best known¹. But there are about one hundred different kinds, and they come in several colors.

Here is how the poinsettia became one of America's most popular flowers:

In eighteen twenty-five, a man named Joel Roberts Poinsett was appointed² the first United³ States minister to Mexico. Mister⁴ Poinsett was a diplomat⁵, but he was also interested in plants. He brought back examples of a colorful plant to the United States.

The botanical⁶ name for the plant is Euphorbia pulcherrima (yoo-FOR-bee-uh puhl-KEHR-ee-muh). In Latin⁷, that means⁸ "most beautiful euphorbia." There are hundreds of members of the euphorbia family. Rubber trees, trees that produce castor and tung oil, and the cassava -- an important root crop -- are all members of this family.

Wild poinsettias can grow to four meters in size. They contain latex, like rubber trees.

The flowers of the poinsettia are very small. Around the flowers are colorful leaves called bracts. These make the plant popular.

In the nineteen twenties, Albert Ecke and his son Paul became interested in the poinsettia's ability to flower in winter. Paul Ecke thought it would be good at Christmastime. The two started a farm near Encinitas, California⁹.

At first Paul Ecke, and later his son, Paul Ecke Junior, grew large plants in fields. Then they sent them to growers by train. Growers could divide the large plants into cuttings, to raise smaller ones in greenhouses¹⁰ until the holidays.

In the nineteen sixties came poinsettias that grew best in containers. The Eckes started to sell cuttings from these new plants.

Today, five companies supply poinsettia cuttings for the world's large growers. Three are European.

In the United States, there is Oglevee in Connellsville, Pennsylvania, and the Ecke Ranch¹¹ in Encinitas, California. The Ecke Ranch supplies about seventy percent of the cuttings used in the United States, and about half of the world supply.

Poinsettias are the most popular potted flowering plant in America, with sales last year of about two hundred fifty million dollars.

This VOA Special English Agriculture Report was written by Mario Ritter. I'm Steve Ember.

1 known   

adj.大家知道的；知名的，已知的

参考例句：

• He is a known artist.他是一个知名的艺术家。
• He is known both as a painter and as a statesman.他是知名的画家及政治家。

2 appointed   

adj.指定的，约定的v.任命( appoint的过去式和过去分词 )；确定；约定；安排

参考例句：

• They have appointed a new head teacher at my son's school. 我儿子读书的学校任命了一位新校长。
• They appointed a new manager to coordinate the work of the team. 为协调这个队的工作，他们任用了一位新经理。

3 united   

adj.和谐的；团结的；联合的，统一的

参考例句：

• The whole nation is closely united.全国人民紧密团结。
• The two men were united by community of interests.共同的利益使两个人结合在一起。

4 mister   

n.(略作Mr.全称很少用于书面)先生

参考例句：

• Mister Smith is my good friend.史密斯先生是我的好朋友。
• He styled himself " Mister Clean ".他自称是“清廉先生”。

5 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

6 botanical   

adj.植物学的；n.植物性药材

参考例句：

• I am not very familiar with botanical names.我不太熟悉植物学方面的名称。
• How many stops are there to the Botanical Garden?去植物园要坐几站？

7 Latin   

adj.拉丁的，拉丁语的，拉丁人的；n.拉丁语

参考例句：

• She learned Latin without a master.她无师自通学会了拉丁语。
• Please use only Latin characters.请仅使用拉丁文字符。

8 means   

n.方法，手段，折中点，物质财富

参考例句：

• That man used artful means to find out secrets.那人使用狡猾的手段获取机密。
• We must get it done by some means or other.我们总得想办法把它干完。

9 California   

n.加利福尼亚(美国)

参考例句：

• He was elected governor of the state of California.他当选为加州州长。
• We were driving on a California freeway.我们正沿着加利福尼亚的一条快车道驾车行驶。

10 greenhouses   

温室，花房( greenhouse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Cypress and redwood are seldom used in the superstructure of commercial greenhouses. 扁柏和美州红松很少用于商用温室的上部结构。
• They grew tomatoes in two greenhouses, each with a CD-player inside. 他们在两个温室里种西红柿，每个里面都有一个CD播放机。

11 ranch   

n.大牧场，大农场

参考例句：

• He went to work on a ranch.他去一个大农场干活。
• The ranch is in the middle of a large plateau.该牧场位于一个辽阔高原的中部。