BOUGAINVILLE

BOUGAINVILLE

LATIN NAME: BOUGAINVILLEA SPECTABILIS

HOMELAND: MEXICO

In memory of Jeanne Baret, The first woman to circumnavigate the globe…


The Bougainville flower, which announces the end of the winter season when it blooms in the regions starting from Mexico and extending to Costa Rica, had been noticed and recorded by Jeanne Baret, the assistant of the French naturalist Philibert Commerson, during an expedition in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1768. In the following years, its homeland was accepted as Mexico.

The French naturalist Philibert Commerson, who was invited as the natural science director to the expedition organized by the French admiral and explorer Louis Antoine de Bougainville between 1766 and 1769, states the acceptance of his personal nurse Jeanne Baret due to his health conditions. Admiral Bougainville not only accepted Commerson’s request about Jeanne Baret when women where not allowed on scientific expedition, he also provided his own flat to Commerson and Jeanne Baret so they could work comfortably and moved to a normal cabin.

This decision of Admiral Bougainville gave Jeanne Baret the titles of being the first woman to participate in a scientific expedition and the first woman to circumnavigate the globe.

Moreover, the decision of Admiral Bougainville went down in history as an exemplary behavior that gave scientists the value and prestige they deserve in the face of politics.

During a expedition in Rio de Janeiro, Jeanne Baret, whose main task was Commerson's health condition, notices flowers that she has not seen before. Commerson registered this flower as a new species and named it Bougainville in honor of Admiral Bougainville.

The Bougainville flower, which came to Europe with this discovery, became the indispensable ivy decoration of the gardens and streets, especially on the Mediterranean coasts of France and Italy.

In later times, Mexico is considered to be the homeland of Bougainville due to its folkloric values such as being accepted as a harbinger of spring in Mexico and being used as a traditional medicine against sore throat, cough, high fever, diarrhea, detox effect and joint pain.