Family: Nyctaginaceae
Bougainvillea spectabilis (great bougainvillea, paper flower) is an evergreen climbing shrub native to Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, and Argentina. It is commonly cultivated as an ornamental plant. This plant has many medicinal uses, and is used in Mexican traditional medicine for the treatment of coughs and respiratory problems. However the safety of taking products from this plant during pregnancy and lactation has not been established. Another consideration when planting is that this plant has thorns, which can make management difficult, and may be mildly toxic to people and animals if ingested. This plant has not been documented as naturalized in any Hawaiian Islands to date.
High Risk Traits:
- Thrives in tropical climates.
- Reported to be naturalized, or persisting, in several introduced locations (but no evidence in the Hawaiian Islands)
- Reported to be aggressive and invasive where cultivated.
- Other species are invasive.
- Stems and branches pubescent with stout, recurved spines
- May have allelopathic properties.
- May be mildly toxic to animals and people if ingested.
- Tolerates many soil types.
- Climbing, smothering growth habit
- Reproduces by wind-dispersed seeds (but seeds rarely, or never, produced in the Hawaiian Islands)
- Able to spread vegetatively.
- Reaches maturity in 1-3 years.
- Able to resprout after cutting.
Low Risk Traits:
- Reports of invasiveness have not been corroborated, and there are no reports of naturalization or invasiveness in the Hawaiian Islands, despite widespread cultivation.
- Self-incompatible
- Herbicides may be effective at provide control.
