Celebrate the holidays with Poinsettia, a new 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 will have a postage value equivalent to the price of the single-piece First-Class Mail International first-ounce machineable letter in effect at the time of use. The stamp art features a photo of a poinsettia. Taken from above, the photo captures the beauty of the green leaves, the red bracts, and the yellow flowers in the center of the plant. The poinsettia—Euphorbia pulcherrima—is a small tropical tree that can reach heights of more than 10 feet in the wild in its native Mexico. We tend to think of the beautifully colored “petals” as the flowers, but in fact, those are the modified leaves called bracts. The poinsettia’s flower is the cluster of small, yellow, 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 and created medicine for fever from the plant’s sap. During the 17th century, European priests observed that the plant bloomed during 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 cuttings of the exotic plant back to the U.S. in the early years of the 19th century. National Poinsettia Day is observed on December 12, the day that Dr. Poinsett died.