Taken from wikipedia's page at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
"Bougainvillea is a genus of flowering plants native to South America from Brazil west to Perú and south to southern Argentina (Chubut Province).
They are thorny, woody vines growing anywhere from 1 to 12 metres (3 ft 3 in to 39 ft 4 in) tall, scrambling over other plants with their spiky thorns. The thorns are tipped with a black, waxy substance. They are evergreen where rainfall occurs all year, or deciduous if there is a dry season. The leaves are alternate, simple ovate-acuminate. The actual flower of the plant is small and generally white, but each cluster of three flowers is surrounded by three or six bracts with the bright colours associated with the plant, including pink, magenta, purple, red, orange, white, or yellow. Bougainvillea glabra is sometimes referred to as "paper flower" because the bracts are thin and papery. The fruit is a narrow five-lobed achene.
The larvae of some Lepidoptera species also use them as food plants, for example the giant leopard moth (Hypercompe scribonia).
Bougainvilleas grow best in dry soil in very bright full sun and with frequent fertilization; but they require little water once established, and in fact will not flourish if over-watered."
