Christmas Nectar

I'm not that keen on Poinsettias but bought this little one so that I could photograph its flowers. They're tiny and surrounded by the bright red petal-like bracts.

The flower is called a cyathia from the Greek for cup and is made up of. multiple male flowers and a single female flower surrounded by a sphere of fused bracts called an involucre, out of which the flowers emerge. The involucres have nectar glands on them, which look like yellow lips.

The plant's association with Christmas began in 16th-century Mexico, where legend tells of a girl, commonly called Pepita or Maria, who was too poor to provide a gift for the celebration of Jesus' birthday and was inspired by an angel to gather weeds from the roadside and place them in front of the church altar. Crimson blossoms sprouted from the weeds and became beautiful poinsettias.