Bougainvillea

Common name: Bougainvillea, Lesser Bougainvillea

This common climber found over fences was named after the French navigation Louis de Bougainvillea who discovered the climber in Brazil.  As a child, I saw the flowers only in pink and white.  These days they are found in bright colours of so many hues.  It has sharp thick thorns and therefore not attacked by cattle, goats or birds.  

 

 

 

The actual flower is small and generally white.  Clusters of three flowers are surrounded by either three or six colourful bracts of various colours - in this case - pink.  The flower is also known as paper flower, since the bracts are papery and thin.

The climber is found everywhere.  On a walk in the KBR park, Hyderabad, in summer, when most trees were stark and leafless, we were so happy to see flowers on an otherwise leafless tree.  On closer look, we found that the bougainvillea had crept up the tree, and it looked beautiful.



 

Botanical name: Bougainvillea glabra       Family: Nyctaginaceae (Bougainvillea family).

Stamp - flowersofindia.net