Joel R. Poinsett

This 1841 marble bust of Joel R. Poinsett by Ferdinand Pettrich is displayed in the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC.

"Joel Roberts Poinsett (March 2, 1779 – December 12, 1851) was an American physician and diplomat. He was the first U.S. agent in South America, a member of the South Carolina legislature and the United States House of Representatives, the first United States Minister to Mexico (the United States did not appoint ambassadors until 1896), a U.S. Secretary of War under Martin Van Buren, and a co-founder of the National Institute for the Promotion of Science and the Useful Arts (a predecessor of the Smithsonian Institution), as well as the namesake of Poinsett County, Arkansas; Poinsett Highway, Poinsett Bridge, and Poinsett State Park in South Carolina; Lake Poinsett in South Dakota; and the poinsettia, a popular Christmas plant." -- Wikipedia

 Mexican "flor de la noche buena," called in the U.S. the poinsettia (Wikipedia)

 

J.R. Poinsett

Secretary of War

by Chas. Frendrich, 1838

(Library of Congress)