Bougainvillea ( or ) is a genus of thorny ornamental vines, bushes, or trees. The inflorescence consists of large colourful sepallike bracts which surround three simple waxy flowers. It is native to South America from Brazil west to Peru and south to southern Argentina. Different authors accept between four and 18 species in the genus. Bougainvillea are also known as buganvilla ( Spain ), bugambilia ( Mexico, Guatemala, Cuba, Philippines ), bouganvilla ( India ), pokok bunga kertas ( Indonesia, Malaysia ), bougenville ( Pakistan ), Napoleón ( Honduras ), jahanamiya ( Arab World ), veranera ( Colombia, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Panama), trinitaria ( Colombia, Panama, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic & Venezuela ), Santa Rita ( Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay ), papelillo (Northern Peru ), primavera ( Brazil ), Drillingsblume (triplet flower, Germany ), vukamvilia ( Greece ) or Saron / Saron Par / Sarawn (in Mizoram, India ).
The vine species grow anywhere from 1 to 12 m (3 to 40 ft.) tall, scrambling over other plants with their spiky thorns. The thorns are tipped with a black, waxy substance. They are evergreen where rainfall occurs all year, or deciduous if there is a dry season. The leaves are alternate, simple ovate-acuminate, 4–13 cm long and 2–6 cm broad. The actual flower of the plant is small and generally white, but each cluster of three flowers is surrounded by three or six bracts with the bright colours associated with the plant, including pink, magenta, purple, red, orange, white, or yellow.
