Bougainvillea glabra
Bougainvillea glabra, the lesser bougainvillea or paperflower, is the most common species of bougainvillea used for bonsai. The epithet 'glabra' comes from Latin and means "bald".
Description
It is an evergreen, climbing shrub that usually grows tall, occasionally up to. It features thick, thorny stems and drooping branches that are glabrous or sparsely hairy. The leaves have a stem. The leaf blade is ovate to ovate-lanceolate, pointed or briefly pointed, 5 to 13 centimeters long and 3 to 6 centimeters wide, sparsely fluffy hairy on the underside and bald on the top. The leaf-like bracts are purple, oblong or elliptical, pointed, long and about wide. They tower over the flowers. These grow individually in pairs or in groups of three on flower stems about 3.5 millimeters long.Raphides have been found in the stem, bracts and different parts of the flower.
Inflorescences
The crown tube is greenish, clearly angled, about 2 centimeters long, sparsely downy hairy, ribbed and points away from the flower stalk. The tip is lobed five times and forms a short, spread, white or yellowish hem. The six to eight stamens have 8 to 13 millimeter long stamens. The ovary is about 2 millimeters long, the stylus 1 millimeter and the scar 2.5 millimeters.Tiny white flowers usually appear in clusters surrounded by colorful papery bracts, hence the name paperflower. The leaves are dark green, variable in shape, up to long. The flowers are about in diameter.