Global: Poinsettia Stamps,

Celebrate the holidays with Poinsettia, a Global Forever® stamp from the U.S. Postal Service®This Global Forever stamp can be used to mail a one-ounce letter to any country to which First-Class Mail international®service is available. As with all Global Forever stamps, this stamp wil have a postage value equivalent to the price of thesingle-piece First-Class Mail lnternational first-ounce machineable letter in effect at the time of use.

The stamp art features a photo of a poinsetia. Taken from above, the photo captures the beauty of the green leaves, the redbracts, and the yellow flowers in the center of the plant.

The poinsettia-Euphorbia pulcherrima.is a smalltropical tree that can reach heights of more than 10 feet in the wild in itsnative Mexico. We tend to think of the beautifully colored "petals" as the flowers, but in fact, those are the modified leavescalled bracts. The poinsettia's flower is the cluster of small, vellow, cup-shaped structures in the center of the leaves.

Revered by the Aztec, the poinsettia was considered a symbol of purity. They used the bracts to make dye and cosmetics anccreated medicine for fever from the plant's sap. During the 17th century, European priests observed that the plant bloomedduring the winter months and incorporated it into festivals to celebrate the Nativity.The plant was named in honor of Dr. joel Roberts Poinsett, the first American ambassador to Mexico, who sent cutings of theexotic plant back to the U,S, in the earlv vears of the 19th centyry, National Poinsettia Dav is observed on December 12. theday that Dr. Poinsett died.

Introduced to the American gardening public in 1829 at the first exhibition of the Pennsyivania Horticultural Society-nowknown as the Philadelphia Flower Show-the vivid red plant soon became associated with the holidavs in the United StatesGrowers in Calfornia are credited with the 20th-centurv explosion in pooularity and avallability of the poinsettia. whichcontinues today.

The poinsettia has more than 100 varieties, though red is stil America's favorite, Modern plants are bred in many other huesincluding pink, apricot, yellow, cream, and white. n addition, there are unusual varieties that blend several colors in speckledor marbled patterns.

Poinsettias are now as much a part of the holidays as evergreens and mistletoe, tens of milions of plants are sold during theseason.

The art director was Wiliam J. Gicker. Greg Breeding designed the stamp with an existing photograph by Betsy Pettet.The Global Forever stamps are being issued in self-adhesive panes of 10Made in the USA.