Bougainvillea

Bougainvillea is a general name for a family of thorny ornamental vines, bushes, and trees belonging to the Nyctaginaceae family. They are native to South America, but can be found in many areas with warm climates, including Florida, South Carolina, South India, California and across the Mediterranean.

The plant is named after explorer Louis Antoine de Bougainville (1729-1811), after it was documented on one of his expeditions. Unless you look closely it appears that the flowers are brightly coloured, but in fact the colour is produced by bracts. The actual flower of the plant is small and generally white, but each cluster of three flowers is surrounded by three or six bracts which have the bright colours associated with the plant, including pink, magenta, purple, red, orange, white, or yellow. Bougainvillea grows rapidly and once established requires little water.

We planted this example in our Laroque garden in 2024.