Bougainvillea Comm. ex Juss., Gen. Pl. 91: 1789; Bailey, Stand. Cyclop. Hort. 1: 533. 1919; Bor & Raizada, Ind. Climb. & Shrubs 267. 1954; Hutch., Gen. Flow. Pl. 2: 263. 1967; Fl. China @ eFloras.org 5: 431; Fl. Pak. @ eFloras.org p. 13.

Shrubs or small trees, often climbers, scramblers, to 25 m long, perennial, mostly scandent. Stems usually armed with recurved or straight supra-axillary thorns (abortive peduncles, inflorescences), more or less puberulous. Leaves alternate or subopposite, equal, ovate to elliptic-lanceolate, entire, membranous, petiolate. Inflorescence axillary, pedunculate, 3-flowered cyme; peduncles bearing single apical triad of flowers or the triads in dichasia 1-2(-3)-times branched; each triad 3-bracteate; bracts cordate to ovate, large, leafy, reticulate-venose, persistent, with a range of bright colours, subsessile. Flowers actinomorphic, bisexual, pedicellate, pedicels adnate to midrib below the middle of each bract. Perianth narrow, tubular or roughly pentagonal, fusiform below the middle, narrow above, 5-ridged throughout the length of the tube; limb 5-lobed, lobes equal, frilled, spreading, greenish white or cream-coloured, plicate; top twisted after anthesis; base persistent. Stamens (5-)7-8(-10), shorter than perianth tube, and included; filaments long, flattened, unequal, connate below; anthers bithecous, basifixed. Carpel 1, ovary superior, stipitate, narrow, fusiform, ovule solitary, basal, erect; style short, lateral, linear, included; stigma fimbriate, one-sided. Anthocarp spindle-shaped or clavate, 5-ribbed, not viscid, enclosed within the coriaceous, slightly compressed, persistent, basal parts of perianth tube; upper part of perianth tube spirally rolled upwards; seed with thin testa.

17 species

Bougainvillea spectabilis Willd., Sp. Pl. ed. 4. 2: 348. 1799; keralaplants.in; B. speciosa Schnizl., Icongr. Fam. Regn. Veg.: t.104. 1850.

An arborescent, scandent, straggling or climbing or scrambler, evergreen perennial shrub. Bark brown, wood yellow, hard. Stems cylindric, branchlets densely brown-tomentose, thorny; thorns axillary, 0.5-5 cm long, straight or mostly curved, woody, stout, tomentose or sometimes glabrous; stem and thorns with vertical lenticels. Leaves alternate exstipulate, simple; petioles slender, 0.7-2.5 cm long, densely puberulent, green; leaf blade orbicular-ovate to oblong or ovate-elliptic to even rotundate, 3.5-20.5 cm x 2.1-7.5 cm, obtuse or shortly acuminate at apex, entire or undulate, cuneate, round or subcordate at base, membranous to somewhat leathery; more or less pubescent on both the surfaces, primary vein sparsely hairy; secondary veins densely pubescent, green. Inflorescences terminal or axillary cymes, borne in leafy terminal pedunculate panicles; peduncle simple or sometimes divided, pubescent, green. Flowers actinomorphic, bisexual, monochlamydous, in triads, 1-7 together, each head consisting of 3 bracts arranged as an involucre, shortly pedicellate or subsessile; bracts ovate, broadly ovate or elliptic-ovate, 2.5-6.5 cm x 1.5-4 cm, each flower smaller than bract, adnate to the midvein of bract, acute to acuminate, sometimes obtuse at apex, margin entire, subcordate to cordate at base, sometimes round, membranous, reticulately veined, sparsely puberulent or short villous, purplish-red to purple or deep rose or crimson to brick red; persistent. Tepals 5, connate, petaloid; tube slender, 1.5-3 cm long, terete or 5-angled, fusiform, 5-ridged, with copious more or less straight hairs; limb funnelform, 10-lobed, spreading, frilled, 5 lobes broad, emarginate, white or cream-coloured, alternating with narrow, elliptic-lanceolate acute, red or light-brown lobes; lower part of tube persistent, limb and upper part of tube spirally rolled after anthesis. Stamens 8, monoadelphous opposite perianth lobes; filaments basally connate forming a small staminal tube, slender, 2.5-2.8 cm long, included; anthers bithecous, oblong-oval to oval, ca. 2 mm long, monomorphic, basifixed, dehiscence longitudinal, yellowish orange. Carpel 1; ovary superior, stipitate, oblong-cylindrical, ca. 2 mm x 0.5 mm, greenish white, unilocular with solitary basal ovule; style 1, terminal, ca. 3.5 mm long, green; stigma 1, linear, +/-equal or longer than style, feathery, dry, included.

Anthocarp club-shaped, 1.1-1.5 cm long, 5- ribbed, glabrous or hairy; seed 1. (Fruits not observed)

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