BOUGAINVIELLEA

Bougainvillea, named after French navy admiral Louis Antoine de Bougainville, is native plant to South America.

It thrives in warm and sunny climates, which is why you’re most likely to see it while you’re strolling through places like Mexico, Florida, California or Fiji. Its most distinctive feature is the bright bract leaves that come in pink, magenta, purple, red, orange, yellow and white, which protect their small white or yellow flower blossoms. 

The first European to record a sighting of the Bougainvillea was a French botanist named Philibert Commerçon, who was accompanying Louis Antoine de Bougainville on the first French voyage around the world. Even though it was Commerçon’s who received most of the credit for the Bougainvillea’s discovery, Commerçon spent most of the voyage bed ridden with a leg ulcer, so it was likely Commerçon’s assistant and lover Jeanne Baret – who disguised herself as a man in order to take part in the voyage – who truly discovered the flower.