Somatic embryos were induced on stem nodal explants from red- and white-bract cultivars (Freedom Red, Freedom White) of poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd.). The maximum number of somatic embryos generated per explant for both cvs. was on Murashige and Skoog (MS 1962)-based medium containing 2.7 μM NAA and 14.8 μM 2iP after 14 weeks of culture. In white-bract poinsettia, stem nodal explants developed callus from which, after 8 weeks of culture, somatic embryos emerged from the outer cell layers of the tissue. These somatic embryos were separated easily from the parental callus and, when transferred to new medium of the same composition, developed into shoots. In contrast, callus of red-bract poinsettia stem nodal explants only occasionally developed somatic embryos. The latter could not be detached physically from tissues of the original explants. Such somatic embryos underwent further development while attached to the parental explants, and were slower to develop into shoots than embryos of the white-bract cultivar. Somatic embryo-derived shoots from both cultivars were excised and cultured in semi-solid MS-based medium containing 34.2 μM IAA to enhance root formation. The availability of embryogenic culture systems for plant regeneration will facilitate micropropagation of this important ornamental plant and its genetic modification via transformation technology.