Bougainvillea

I very rarely post an image that has had some kind of filter added in post-processing. When I tried it on this photo, I preferred the result to the original shot.

The flowers of Bougainvillea are so delicate - almost like a tiny, white flower within the outer flower. This photo was taken in the ENMAX Conservatory at the Calgary Zoo on 6 October 2014.

"Bougainvillea is a genus of thorny ornamental vines, bushes, and trees with flower-like spring leaves near its flowers. Different authors accept between four and 18 species in the genus. They are native plants of South America from Brazil west to Perú and south to southern Argentina (Chubut Province).

The vine species grow anywhere from 1 to 12 m (3 to 40 ft.) tall, scrambling over other plants with their spiky thorns. The thorns are tipped with a black, waxy substance. They are evergreen where rainfall occurs all year, or deciduous if there is a dry season. The leaves are alternate, simple ovate-acuminate, 4–13 cm long and 2–6 cm broad. The actual flower of the plant is small and generally white, but each cluster of three flowers is surrounded by three or six bracts with the bright colours associated with the plant, including pink, magenta, purple, red, orange, white, or yellow. Bougainvillea glabra is sometimes referred to as "paper flower" because the bracts are thin and papery." From Wikipedia.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bougainvillea