Historic plant

This Bougainvillea plant grows in our neighbour's yard. We enjoy looking at it across the fence.

The species was named in honour of the French navigator Admiral Louis-Antoine, Comte de Bougainville. In a distinguished career in the French navy, he circumnavigated the globe in 1766-9. During the voyage, he came very close to sighting the east coast of Australia, 3 years before Captain James Cook. Along the way, in Brazil, his naturalist Philibert Commercon collected samples of a spectacular climbing flowering plant which he named in honour of his captain. As always, Wikipedia has lots of information. 

Included in the Wikipedia article is a memorable quote from Bougainville, commenting on the British-French war in North America: It is an abominable kind of war. The very air we breathe is contagious of insensibility and hardness.