02 March 09

I wish I had a tie appropriate to honor the birthday of Theodore Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss, in 1904. Instead I must draw attention to the 1779 birthday of Joel Roberts Poinsett, who became the first U. S. ambassador to Mexico (under President James Madison). In 1828 he found some beautiful flowers in the Taxco region, and sent some plants back to his botanical greenhouses in Greenville, South Carolina. By 1836 these flowers had gained the popular name "Poinsettia."