is ripe for reimagining —
christened by the botanist who claimed
its discovery in Brazil, judiciously honored
his ship’s commander with the eponym.

He should have called it jeannebaret,
for the secretly self-taught scientist
whose trained eye found it first, a woman,
disguised as a manservant, the only way

she could sneak on board. By virtue
of that journey, the first female known
to sail around the world at least deserved
a flowering bush in her name.

Continue reading Bougainvillea, Named for an 18th Century French Explorer at The Hyacinth Review.