Bougainvillea

Botanical Name: 
Bougainvillea cultivars
Family: 
Four-O’Clocks Family (Nyctaginaceae)
Origin: 
Native to South America
At Hearst Castle: 
Bougainvillea is trained to grow on the exteriors of all three guest houses. It also grows on the central balustrade of the South Terrace and on the south exterior of the Roman Pool.
Comments: 
The genus was named after the French navigator, Louis de Bougainville, 1729-1811. W. R. Hearst personally purshased some plants for the San Simeon gardens from a nursery in Santa Barbara in 1920, including 2 magenta Bougainvillea on the exteriors of A and C Houses. Correspondence from W. R. Hearst to Morgan of Feb. 11, 1921 stated “Would like south side of A to be a mass of beautiful bougainvilles [sic] visible from the bay. Our hardest freezes on the hilltop have killed the above-ground portions of our bougainvilles, but they have rejuvenated vigorously as the weather warms. In average years at Hearst Castle the plants lose most or all of their leaves in the winter.
Description: 
Vine or sprawling shrub; evergreen in sub-tropical climates, semi-deciduous in cooler regions. Leaves are oval, tapering at tips, and slightly fuzzy. Sharp thorns grow at the bases of the leaf stalks. What appears to be the flower is actuallly 3 large bracts (petal-like leaves) surrounding insignificanat, cream-colored flowers. Itis the bracts which privide the plants’s bright colors. which include reds, purples, oranges, pinks and white.