I can assure you that they are definitely bougainvillea flowers that I folded. In fact there appears to be quite a few varieties and they do possess different colours: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bougainvillea

You are right in that they are difficult to fold, but not because of the size of petals (I fold models no bigger than from a 1cm x 1cm square cut from the petal), but because of the curvature of the petals that makes it difficult to press and work with.

If you get around to trying this, please let me know and send me an image. I want to keep a record of the types of flowers that you can fold, along with the people who have done this :)

I can assure you that the coin of this term caused me quite a bit of headache, even though I would prefer to focus on the fact that I am not aware of anyone else folding flower petals into origami, except for one other person who has done this with lotus flower petals.

I have consulted friends in Japan (native Japanese speakers), and even Robert Lang gave me the same comment. It is not my intention to cause controversy with the choice of words, but even the Japan Origami Academic Society would not respond to my request for clarification, so I think this is where a :shrug emoji would go.

As far as I’m concerned, French fries aren’t French, Panama hats aren’t even from Panama, and German Chocolate cake isn’t German. Ever heard of artistic freedom of expression? It’s his art, his term, his vision; no one gets to take that away from him even if it doesn’t make sense to others. Even if “hanakami” isn’t a traditional or historically used Japanese term, it still makes perfect sense linguistically and artistically.