Bougainvillea spectabilis Willd.
Vernacular name: Paper flower, Great bougainvillea, Buganvel (Hindi: बूगनबेल)
Species Name: Bougainvillea spectabilis Willd.
Family: Nyctaginaceae
Habit: Thorny woody vine or shrub
Stem: Scandent, quadrangular, armed with spines 1-2 cm long.
Leaf: Alternate, ovate to elliptic, 4-10 cm long, entire, glabrous.
Flowering: March–October
Flowers: Axillary involucral heads (3 flowers per involucre – dichasial cyme system); true flowers tiny white; 3 colourful bracts (red/pink/purple) petaloid, showy.
Fruit: Achene, 6 mm long, surrounded by persistent bracts.
Uses:
- Leaf decoction for diarrhea; stem sap for wounds.
- Named after Louis de Bougainvillea, a French navigator who came across it in Brazil during the 18th century.
- A postal stamp was issued by the Indian Postal Department in 1985 to commemorate this flower
- With its sharp thick thorns it is avoided by cattle, goats, monkeys, and even birds, so grown often as a hedge plant.
- Due to its versatility, richness, and suitability to thrive in degrading environmental conditions, its used widely as an ornamental plant too.
- Rajasthan villages use thorny stems for protective fences; Holi decoration in Gujarat.
