Bougainvillea glabra - Bougainvillea

This plant seems to have followed me around. I first saw it in Singapore in my childhood and now I see it all over the Mediterraean, where it is cultivated in gardens everywhere. The flowers are small and rather insignificant tube-like structures and it is the large, leaf-like bracts around the flowers that catch our attention. Probably mainly purple originally, there are now many bourgainvillea hybrids in pink, white, red and orange to be found in gardens.

Bougainvillea is a member of the Bougainvillea family (Nyctaginaceae) and although remarkably common in gardens is only occasionally seen naturalised in the countryside.

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