Bougainvillea are thorny, woody, vines growing 1-12 m tall, scrambling over other plsnts with the hooked thorns (great for seurity). They are evergreen where rainfall occure all year, or deciduous in the dry season. The leaves are alternate, simple ovate-acumate, 4-13 cm long and 2-6 cm broad.
The actual flower of the plant is small and generally white, but each cluster of three flowers is surrounded by th e three or six bracts with the bright colors associated with the plant, including pink, magenta, purple, red, orange, yellow, or white. Bougainvillea glabra is sometimes referred to as "paper flower" because the bracts are thin and papery. The fruit is a narrow five-lobed achene.
