Bougainvillea

Evergreen climbing shrub with thick spiny stems and drooping branches that are glabrous or sparsely hairy. The leaves have stalks 3 to 10 mm (1⁄8 to 3⁄8 in) long. The leaf blades are ovate to ovate-lanceolate, pointed or short-pointed, 5-13 cm long and 3-6 cm wide, sparsely hairy on the underside and above. Bald. The leaf-like bracts are purple, oblong or elliptical, pointed, 65–90 mm (2+1⁄2–3+1⁄2 in) long and about 50 mm (2 in) wide. is. They tower over the flowers. They grow individually in pairs or in groups of three on flower stalks about 3.5 millimeters long. The crown tube is greenish, distinctly angled, about 2 cm long, sparsely pubescent, ribbed, and directed away from the peduncle. The tip is five-lobed and forms a short, widening white or yellowish hem. The 6-8 stamens are 8-13 mm long. The ovary is about 2 mm long, the needle is 1 mm, and the scar is 2.5 mm. It usually grows 3 to 3.5 m (10 to 12 ft) tall, sometimes up to 9 m (30 ft). They usually appear in clusters of small white flowers surrounded by colorful paper-like bracts, hence the name paper flowers. The leaves are dark green, variable in shape and up to 100 mm (4 in) long. The flowers are about 0.4 cm in diameter (the pink petal-like structures are bracts, not petals).