Neelakurinji

Species of Strobilanthes grow wild on the Kodaikanl raanges between 6000 to 7000 feet. Strobilanthes belongs to Acanthaceae, one of the natural orders among the flowering plants. Strobilanthes is derived from two Greek words meaning " a flower relating to resembling a cone", that is cone-head. There are over 200 species of Strobilanthes,nearly all in Asia,and over 150 species occur in India,especially in Western Ghats, Kodaikanal and Nilgiris alone claims more than thirty species. Many of the species flower only at a long interval, such as between six and twelve years usually, and in some, even at longer intervals like 35 years. There are also some annuals. Over the years the area over which it  occurs has become less and less due to increasing cultivation.

The most common and best known species, Strobilanthes kunthiana (Kurinji) occurs on the dry slopes of the eastern side of the hills, where there is little or no tree forest. It is tall bushy shrub, sometimes eight to ten feet high, and covered with a profusion of bright blue bell-like flowers.As in the case of the bamboo, they grow for a number of years, until at the appointed time of maturity, they all burst into flowers, mature their seed, die down and disappear.  The flowering appears once in 12 years. One interesting result of the gregarious flowering of Stroilanthes is the largest increase in bees found in its vicinity during the flowering period. Immense quantities of honey become available and the rock bees and common hill bees visit the plant.

Neelakurinji (Strobilanthes Kunthiana) is a bush with several branches.  The species name Kunthiana has been derived from the River Kunthi which flows through the rich expanse of the renowned Silent Valley National Park in Kerala.  It means that the plant has been first described from the vicinity of this river.  The plant grows profusely Shola grasslands and mountain slopes of the mighty Western Ghats and Nilgiris in India.  Neelakurinji blooms in a clustered manner on typical inflorescence stocks once in every 12 years.  The flowering season ranges between August and November with a peak period of late September and October although some varieties exhibit little variation in their phrenology.   The flower has purplish blue colour when aged. It looks light blue in the earlier stage of blooming.

The Nilgiris owe the Neelakurinji for it's name which means blue mountains as it used to clothe a vast area of hills. Neela means blue in Malayalam language and Kurinji is the local name of the flower. There are about 300 species of plants that bloom in 10 to 16 years and Neelakurinji is the best known among them. About 46 of them are found in India . Plants that bloom at long intervals like this is called plietesials. These are mostly found on the hills of high altitude. The main habitat of Neelakurinji is hills surrounding Munnar which is in the Western Ghats. It has become a symbol of bio-diversity of the Western Ghats. This endemic species is also an indicator of the health of the ecosystem. It may well be claimed as flagship species of the mountains

Neelakurinji in Munnar

Munnar is blessed with a rich variety of flora and fauna. Situated about 1600 mts above sea level, Munnar is well known for its vast expanse of Neelakurinji. It last bloomed in the year 1994 and attracted large crowd to Munnar.  After an interval of 12 years now the hills around Munnar are blanketed with Kurinji flowers.
Neelakurinji - where else?
Neelakurinji is also seen in the Selvarayan (anglicized as Shevaroys) range of hills in the Eastern Ghats which is noncontinuous range of mountains running from West Bengal in the north, through Orissa and Andhra Pradesh to Tamilnadu in the south. Selvarayan is a local deity and the name means the beautiful one. It is at an altitude of 1,500 metres (4,920 feet) from mean sea level.