Species
+

Bougainvillea spectabilis Willd.

Bougainvillea, Brazil bougainvillea, Great Bougainvillea, Santa rita

Climate known 45 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Bougainvillea spectabilis, also known as great bougainvillea, is a species of flowering plant. It is native to Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, and Argentina's Chubut Province. It is widely grown as an ornamental plant.

Text from Wikipedia, “Bougainvillea spectabilis”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Bougainvillea

Bougainvillea is a genus of thorny ornamental vines, bushes, and trees belonging to the family Nyctaginaceae. They are native to the tropical forests of South America. There are between 4 and 22 species in the genus. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Bougainvillea”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Nyctaginaceae
Described by
Willd.
Native to
Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil South
Wild records
351 in range· 277 open

At a glance

Warmest month
29°C
Feb, mean day; nights 21 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1310mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Jan 186 mm (CHELSA)
Light
22–38DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a summer growing season, April to October in the northern hemisphere (October to April at the habitat, southern). Habitat rain 1310 mm a year, wettest January at 186 mm, driest August at 42 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 22 to 38 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 12.1 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Bougainvillea bracteata Pers.; Bougainvillea brasiliensis J.F.Gmel.; Bougainvillea brasiliensis Lund; Bougainvillea brasiliensis Lund ex Choisy; Bougainvillea brasiliensis Raeusch. and 12 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, April to October in the northern hemisphere (October to April at the habitat, southern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (994 mm of 1310 mm) falls in October to April, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 24.3 °C against a yearly mean of 22.7 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: April to October.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1310 mm a year, wettest January at 186 mm, driest August at 42 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1310 mm a year at the habitat, 994 mm of it October to April. Wettest month January at 186 mm, driest August at 42 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 783 mm to 1827 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 22 to 38 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 22 to 38 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 18, the highest 90th-percentile month 41).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 12.1 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 12.1 °C, the absolute minimum 8.7 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 36.8 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 14.9 °C in July (across the envelope cells 10.2 °C to 20.0 °C), warmest day 28.6 °C in February (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 12.1 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 61 to 64% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 24 °C in Jul to 29 °C in Feb; mean night from 15 °C in Jul to 21 °C in Jan. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 1310 mm of rain a year, most in Jan. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 289 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 8.7 °C and the 99th-percentile day 36.8 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°15°20°25°30°35°40°36.8° 99th-percentile day (undated)8.7° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250300mm rainDLI 22–38RH 61–64 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 289 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C29 / 26–3129 / 26–3128 / 26–3027 / 24–2925 / 21–2824 / 19–2724 / 19–2625 / 20–2726 / 21–2927 / 23–3028 / 25–3028 / 25–30
Night °C21 / 18–2421 / 18–2421 / 18–2420 / 16–2317 / 13–2215 / 11–2115 / 10–2016 / 11–2017 / 13–2119 / 15–2220 / 16–2321 / 17–23
Rain mm186 / 69–271144 / 73–212142 / 103–213101 / 68–19383 / 37–17861 / 20–15053 / 15–14342 / 16–11477 / 17–151110 / 32–169138 / 43–205173 / 69–237
DLI38 / 34–4137 / 33–4134 / 30–3629 / 24–3324 / 20–3022 / 18–2723 / 19–2928 / 24–3431 / 26–3836 / 31–4137 / 33–4037 / 34–41
RH %64 / 60–6864 / 60–6864 / 61–6864 / 60–6864 / 59–6763 / 59–6762 / 57–6661 / 55–6561 / 55–6662 / 57–6662 / 58–6763 / 60–67

Each figure is the median across the 289 grid cells holding the 342 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 2215:2769 (-20.775, -41.525). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 8.7 °C, 1st-percentile night 12.1 °C, 99th-percentile day 36.8 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 289 distinct grid cells holding the 342 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2215:2769 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -21.00_-41.250, lapse-corrected +82 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 318 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeBrazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil South· introduced: Gambia, The, Cameroon, Gulf of Guinea Is., Zaïre, Mauritius, Nansei-shoto, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Vietnam, Vanuatu, Society Is., Mexico Southeast, Bahamas, Cayman Is., Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Southwest Caribbean, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuelan Antilles, Venezuela, Bolivia, Peru, Brazil West-Central, Brazil North
Kew's description“liana” · “wet tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-22.9, -43.2 · in the densest population, 206 records (59% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 351 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 277 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 683 km away. 803 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 9 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 351 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Bougainvillea spectabilisBougainvillea spectabilisBougainvillea spectabilisBougainvillea spectabilisBougainvillea spectabilisBougainvillea spectabilisBougainvillea spectabilisBougainvillea spectabilis

Photographs: (c) Lewis, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (4); (c) vaazhaikumar, some rights reserved (CC BY); no rights reserved · CC0 (3).

Photographs: iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Bougainvillea spectabilis, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Insulin‐like effect of pinitol
Sarah H. Bates, Robert B. Jones, Clifford J. Bailey (2000) · British Journal of Pharmacology
Antidiabetic Indian Plants: A Good Source of Potent Amylase Inhibitors
Menakshi Bhat, Smita Zinjarde, Shobha Bhargava, Ameeta Ravi Kumar (2008) · Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine
New Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Obtained from Extracted Bracts of Bougainvillea Glabra and Spectabilis Betalain Pigments by Different Purification Processes
A.R. Hernández-Martínez, Miriam Estévez, S. Vargas, Fracisco Quintanilla (2011) · International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Lignocellulosic biomass-derived, graphene sheet-like porous activated carbon for electrochemical supercapacitor and catechin sensing
Vediyappan Veeramani, Mani Sivakumar, Shen‐Ming Chen, Rajesh Madhu (2017) · RSC Advances
Antidiabetic Properties ofAzardiracta indicaandBougainvillea spectabilis:In VivoStudies in Murine Diabetes Model
Menakshi Bhat, Sandeepkumar K. Kothiwale, Amruta R. Tirmale, Shobha Bhargava (2009) · Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Morpho-anatomical, physiological and biochemical adaptive responses to saline water of Bougainvillea spectabilis Willd. trained to different canopy shapes
Petronia Carillo, Chiara Cirillo, Veronica De Micco, Carmen Arena (2018) · Agricultural Water Management
Effect of ethanolic extract of Bougainvillea spectabilis leaves on haematological and serum lipid variables in ratsitm
Joseph O. Adebayo, Ayoade Abdulfatai Adesokan, Lawrence A. Olatunji, Daniel O Buoro (2005) · Biokemistri
Engineering and Biological Characterization of VB6-845, an Anti-EpCAM Immunotoxin Containing a T-cell Epitope-depleted Variant of the Plant Toxin Bouganin
Jeannick Cizeau, Danielle M. Grenkow, Jennifer G. Brown, Joycelyn Entwistle (2009) · Journal of Immunotherapy
Comparative assessment of air pollution tolerance index (APTI) in the industrial (Rourkela) and non industrial area (Aizawl) of India: An eco- management approach
Prabhat Kumar, Lalita L. S. Panda, Biku Moni Chutia, Munendra Singh (2013) · African Journal of Environmental Science and Technology
Antihyperlipidemic effect of D ‐pinitol on streptozotocin‐induced diabetic wistar rats
P. K. M. Anu Geethan, P. Stanely Mainzen Prince (2008) · Journal of Biochemical and Molecular Toxicology
Bacilliform DNA ‐containing plant viruses in the tropics: commonalities within a genetically diverse group
Basanta Kumar Borah, Shweta Sharma, Ravi Kant, A Johnson (2013) · Molecular Plant Pathology

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Bougainvillea 1 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 242 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.