Neelakurinji

In Context

• Recently, an expert team has identified six varieties of Neelakurinji across the Santhanpara region of Western Ghats.

About Neelakurinji Flower

• It is a shrub of the Acanthaceae family that famously blooms once every 12 years. 
• It is endemic to Western Ghats, covering the slopes of Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
• Their scientific name is ‘strobilanthes kunthiana’, 
• Strobilanthes is a genus of about 350 species of flowering plants in the family Acanthaceae, mostly native to tropical Asia and Madagascar.
• The Topli Karvy (Strobilanthes sessilis), the Karvy (Strobilanthes callosa) and the Kurinji (Strobilanthes kunthiana), all belong to the Strobilanthes genus.
• The Topli Karvy is found more in the northern section of the Western Ghats in Maharashtra. 
• The Karvy grows on the steepest cliffs where trees can’t grow.
• They are seen mostly on the Nilgiri hills, which even got its name from the flowers — ‘neela’, meaning blue and ‘kurinji’, referring to the flowers. 

Source:TH