Bougainvillea, A “Mediterranean” Staple
I have decided to start a series of articles about specific plants, in which I will talk about things that interest me and then provide you with some gardening tips about them! I hope these articles are interesting to you all, and the tips are helpful!
Let's Begin Then…
We have all seen it in a movie or a TV show: the ancient Roman villa with the beautiful garden, the purple flowers covering a wall or creating a canopy above a stone path. Bougainvillea is as Mediterranean as pizza, and it has surely been there forever… right?
WRONG, Let’s talk history!
Bougainvillea is not a Mediterranean plant! It’s not even an old-world plant! The first botanical record we have of it was written around 1768 by a French naturalist named Philibert Commerson, who discorvered it in Brazil and named the plant after a friend of his who was circumnavigating the world at that moment, Admiral Louis-Antoine de Bougainville. The first claim to fame Bougainvillea had was when it was published in the very famous “Genera Planetarium” in 1789.
But it wasn’t until the XIX century that the first specimens started showing up in Europe! NOW, you see how it is ridiculous to see Roman villas with this plant!
