Friday, March 22, 2013

Not a Flower


Bougainvillea in the morning light. There are two interesting things about this plant. First the bright "petals" at the end of new shoots are not flowers at all, they are juvenile leaves, the actual flowers are the two very small white/yellowish dots (you will need to zoom in). Second whilst it is a tropical rainforest plant it isn't from New Guinea or Bougainville Island. It was named by a grateful botanist who accompanied Bouganinville on his circumnavigational voyage of discovery. The thorny but colourful plants originate in South America.
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