October 9, 2014
“Bougainvillea is a genus of thorny ornamental vines, bushes, and trees with flower-like spring leaves near its flowers…. The first European to describe these plants was Philibert Commerçon, a botanist accompanying French Navy admiral and explorer Louis Antoine de Bougainville during his voyage of circumnavigation, and first published for him by Antoine Laurent de Jussieu in 1789. It is possible that the first European to observe these plants was Jeanne Baré, Commerçon’s lover and assistant who was an expert in botany; because she was not allowed on ship as a woman, she disguised herself as a man in order to make the journey(and thus became the first woman to circumnavigate the globe).”
