Bougainvillea - A Favorite Flower with a French Imperialist Name

A Crested Antillean Hummingbird came to collect nectar from a Bougainvillea flower.

During dry times, the Bougainvillea bushes we planted in our yard usually manage to stay colorful and attractive, though this summer has been particularly challenging. They were recommended to us years ago as new homeowners for being both drought-resistance and decorative. I enjoy them also for the birds and insects they bring to the yard when they are flowering.      

 

I soon learned that the colorful parts are not flowers, but are called ‘bracts’. These are specialized leaf structures that assist plants in reproduction. For Bougainvillea plants, the papery bracts surround and protect the small white flowers, while helping to attract birds and insects as pollinators.

A Bananaquit stretched precariously past the bracts to reach the tiny white flower. 

Once we had a few plants, it was easy to start new ones from cuttings. Over the years, we lost some to hurricane damage and erosion, but others have grown profusely and threaten to obstruct the walkway. One negative is that their stems have hard, sharp thorns and can scratch badly when I try to cut them back. 

Although Bougainvillea sap is mildly toxic, a Pearly-eyed Thrasher enjoyed nibbling on its bracts and leaves.

I had read that these plants were named after a French explorer, Louis-Antione de Bougainville. Then this summer his name came up in connection with naval battles during the so-called French and Indian War in North America. From 1756 to 1763, England and France were struggling for control over land and trade in the colonies, and at least one of my ancestors in Maine fought with the British in that war. Meanwhile, some of the Indigenous people fought alongside the French, apparently viewing them as less inclined to remove the native inhabitants from their ancestral lands. 

The French were ultimately defeated. They were forced to give up their colonial claims in North America, along with control over the islands of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Dominica, Grenada and Tobago in the Caribbean. 

 

Despite the French military failure, during the war Bougainville had an opportunity to develop significant skills in naval navigation. Afterwards, in 1766, King Louis XV agreed to send him on a mission to circumnavigate the globe. Bougainville set off to search for alternative lands for potential colonies in places not yet claimed by another European country. The French were hoping to restore their national pride – and find new sources of wealth. Bougainville did lay claim to several islands in the south Pacific, including Tahiti, in what became known as French Polynesia. 

 

Bougainville’s naval expedition was the first to include an official botanist, Philibert Commerson, with a mandate to search for plants that could become useful for medical and economic advancements.

 

The botanist’s assistant on the voyage was eventually revealed to be a woman that he was involved with, Jeanne Baret. She had been disguised as a man because at that time women were not allowed on ships, in the belief that they brought bad luck. After he became ill, it seems that she was the one who did most of the specimen collecting. 

 

The flower now known as Bougainvillea is native to the tropical forests of South America, and was found near Rio de Janeiro. There is no record of what the people who lived there called it.

Bougainvillea flowers are favorites of Long-tailed Skipper butterflies, whose native range includes South America, as well as the Caribbean

One author, Glynis Ridley, suggested that Baret was familiar with medicinal plants in France, and was hoping to find a possible cure for Commerson’s illness when the bright bracts caught her eye. According to the ancient ‘doctrine of signatures’ the shapes and colors of plants can provide signals indicating their potential medicinal uses. Sadly, nothing Baret collected was able to cure Commerson. They left the ship in Mauritius during the return voyage and he died not long afterwards. The plant specimens remained onboard and were brought back to France by Bougainville, who later wrote a report on his travels and discoveries. A number of species ended up carrying his name, but only one became world famous.  

Over time, Bougainvillea plants were introduced and cultivated in hot, tropical locations around the world. 

The bright Bougainvillea flowers attract Caribbean tailless swallowtail butterflies.

 

Many other types of plants and trees were also collected and relocated by Europeans during the so-called ‘Age of Discovery’. In the years after Bougainville’s circumnavigation and colonial claims, botanical exploration and long-distance transfers of plants became critical elements of European empire building. Labor-intensive commercial cultivation of plants such as coffee, tea, sugar cane, spices, tobacco and cotton led to the establishment of large-scale plantation systems around the world as the basis for colonial economies.

A European Honeybee delicately probed a Bougainvillea flower. 

 

While the Bougainvillea bracts and flowers have been used in some parts of Asia and Africa to make teas to treat respiratory or digestive problems, the plants seem to have been valued primarily for their looks and drought-resistance. They are mostly sold for ornamental use in gardens, delighting both pollinators and people generally unaware of their links to a global history of imperialism.