Bougainvilae in Masca#

Bougonvillae in Masca, 1997, © Markus Duschek

Bougainvillea are plants with thorny ornamental vines and come as bushes or trees with flower-like spring leaves near its flowers. The vine species grow anywhere from 1 to 12 m, scrambling over other plants with their spiky thorns.

They are evergreen where rainfall occurs all year, or deciduous if there is a dry season.

The actual flower of the plant is small and generally white, but each cluster of three flowers is surrounded by three or six leaves that look like a flower, with colours varying from pink, magenta, purple, red, orange, white, to yellow.

Bougainvillea are sometimes referred to as "paper flowers" because the pseudo-flowers (leaves, "bracts") are thin and papery.