Ned and Ted Beck, age 11, of New Holland, Pennsylvania, for their question:

What is the story of the poinsettia?

This happy story begins in the shady jungles of Central America. Then it borrows a friend from South Carolina and skips to Mexico. From there, it goes on a world wide tour    arriving here, there and everywhere just in time for Christmas.

Poinsettia flowers are small and yellowish. They look like pale little beads. Oh, no    those Christmas red rosettes are not made of flowery petals at all. They are really leaves pretending to be petals. If you examine them, you see that they look and feel jn'st like the green leaves growing lower down on the stems, and, indeed, they are ordinary leaves colored red instead of green. On some poinsettias, the leafy rosettes are milky white. Others are yellow and one lovely variety has double rosettes of delicate pink.

The poinsettia is related to the cassava plant that gives us creamy tapioca. Both belong in the plant family called Euphorbiaceae. Wild poinsettias grow in the jungles of Mexico and other dense, shady forests of Central America. There they grew for centuries, quietly waiting to be noticed. Then history befriended them. Mexico became a republic and an American statesman arrived to become the new ambassador. He was Joel Roberts Poinsett of South Carolina.

Ambassador Poinsett was deeply interested in diplomacy, the skills that help countries to get along together. He made this his career. But like all sensible people, he had a hobby. His hobby was plants, especially the showy plants that grow in other lands. He traveled far and wide to find and study them. And in 1825, the new ambassador found himself in Mexico. It was not long before the wild poinsettias of the jungles came to his attention.

Naturally, at that time the handsome plant was not called a poinsettia. Some people called it the Mexican Flame Leaves. Poinsett sent his exciting discovery to botanist friends in Charleston and Philadelphia. Florists and botanical gardens welcomes the handsome plant wherever it went. Its leafy rosettes turn red in the winter and the potted plants soon became popular Christmas presents. In 1836, the poinsettia was named officially in honor of the man who found and introduced it to the world.

With the right treatment, you can save a potted Christmas poinsettia. If you live in a cool winter region, keep it indoors and away from drafts. The night temperature should not go below 60 degrees and it likes the days to stay around 70 degrees. Keep the soil in the pot moist but not soggy. If the plant is happy, it may grow four feet high and produce its red rosettes every Christmas. In the warm winter regions of California and the Southland, the poinsettia grows outdoors. The handsome garden shrub is often 10 feet tall.