This new poinsettia cultivar originated as a natural red blushed bracted sport of poinsettia `135` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 7,234) in my greenhouse in Encinitas, Calif. It was selected because of its unusual flower bract color and self branching characteristics; traits which distinguish it from other poinsettia cultivars, and seem to make it a desirable plant for commercial greenhouse production. The bract color of `3-91` is distinctively different from the parent plant, poinsettia `135`, which has a predominant white background with red splotches of various sizes and shapes randomly scattered over the bracts. `3-91` has a more uniform blush of red over the entire bract surface. Poinsettia `3-91` is also distinct from poinsettia `4-91` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 8,733) in that the percent of bract area with the red blush is greater for `3-91`. The red pigment of `3-91` bracts is darker than `4-91`.
After selection, `3-91` was vegetatively reproduced from stem cuttings for test purposes on Encinitas, Calif. By subjecting clones of this plant to successive generations of vegetative propagation, it was demonstrated that the distinctive characteristics of `3-91` held true from generation to generation.
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