Paperflower

Bougainvillea glabra Choisy, in DC. Prodr. 13 2 : 437. 1849
Bougainvillea spectabilis glabra Hook. Bot. Mag. pi. 4810. 1854.
High-climbing woody vine, much branched, armed with numerous spines, the branches yellowish or reddish-brown, puberulent when young but soon glabrate, the spines 6-12 mm. long, straight or curved; petioles less than one third as long as the blades, slender; leaf-blades broadly ovate to elliptic-oval or ovate-lanceolate, 4-10 cm. long, 2-5.5 cm. wide, rounded to acute at the base, abruptly or gradually acute to long-acuminate at the apex, puberulent when young but soon glabrate; inflorescence 3-flowered, on a peduncle 1-2.5 cm. long; bracts purplishred, rarely whitish, broadly ovate or oval, subcordate at the base, obtuse to abruptly acute or acuminate at the base, sparsely puberulent or glabrous ;~ perianth 1.5-2.5 cm. long, the tube green, densely puberulent or glabrate, the lower part with prominent obtuse angles ; stamens 8 ; fruit turbinate, 7-13 mm. long, 4-5 mm. in diameter, the 5 angles acute.
Type locality: State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Distribution : Brazil ; widely cultivated in tropical and subtropical North America and naturalized in Bermuda and apparently in Cuba, Salvador, and Guatemala.