Did you hear about the guy who didn’t believe in repeating rumors, so you had to listen closely the first time?

A rumor that has persisted for over a century is the myth of poinsettias being poisonous. Although it was officially and scientifically disproven more than 50 years ago, the mistaken saga of the poisonous poinsettia lives on.

For example, people occasionally ask what the next garden column is about, as several did recently, and when I said it was about poinsettias not being poisonous, all gave a surprised “They’re not?”

It all started in 1919 when it was rumored that a 2-year-old child in Hawaii died after chewing on a poinsettia leaf.

The child did indeed die, but from causes totally unrelated to eating the poinsettia leaf. The misunderstanding was enough for authorities to

See Full Page