Native to tropic South America , bougainvillea grow around the world as an ornamental climber and bush . It is one of the most commonly grow works in subtropical and tropical garden and is a Mediterranean favourite . Bougainvilleas are easy to farm in frost - free conditions and there are hundreds of cultivars with dissimilar colored flowers .

Flowers

Bougainvillea flowers are white and tubular and only 1 column inch long . The noted colorful flower petal of the flowers are in fact modified leaves or bract . Each flower is surrounded by three theme - like bracts , giving the works its alternative name of paper blossom . The bracts can be purple , ruby , yellow-bellied , orangish or pink and some modernistic cultivar have bivalent bract structures and mixed colors . The flowers and bract are long - lasting and develop on the ending of new arm . Bougainvillea seldom sets source in refinement .

Leaves

The leaves of bougainvillea plant grow alternately on the stem and are oval or heart shaped with a pointed tip . They are up to 4 column inch longsighted and 2 inch across . bougainvillea are evergreen but sometimes throw large numbers of leave in the late summer or during dry spells . Some advanced sort have variegated leave .

Shape

Bougainvillea is by nature a vigorous and helter-skelter plant that produces long , trailing bow covered in sharp acantha . It can be grown as a climber or pruned into a loose - standing shrub up to 10 feet improbable . Bougainvilleas can also be shaped into a hedge and benefit from heavy pruning , as the peak add up on new growth . The stems do not bring forth tendrils but are still capable of wax up walls or tree bole . great plant life can be 40 metrical unit long and cut across entire pergola .

Varieties

The three species in cultivation seem to hybridize freely , producing large numbers of different variety show . The largest and most rampant mintage is Bougainvillea spectabilis which can be recognized by the haired undersides of its leaves . B. glabra is small and produce flower all along its stems rather than just at the ends . It also has few spines that B. spectabilis . B peruviana has small , crinkly bract and unripened stem , even when gravid .

Care

Bougainvilleas are frost crank and take cheery conditions and well - drained ground . They should be watered frequently in the summer as soon as the leaves start to wilt but have sensitive root and will stand if waterlogged . They also make first-class container plant life and can be produce indoors on a sunny windowsill or trained as a bonsai . A high phosphate plant food encourages flowering .

References

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