Once in the Blue Moon but it blooms! That’s what is said about this flower which really blooms once in 12 years. Its Neelakurinji, the blue-purple flower which gave Nilgiris their name, flower that turns these mountains blue. But this nature’s magic got obstructed this year by another of nature’s fury- the floods. Still, few of them survived the ordeal. Hence, here we are inside the Eravikulam National Park in Kerala which is just ten kilometres from Munnar. This park spread out on Nilgiri hills is home to Neelakurinji flowers and Nilgiri Tahr.
Strobilanthus kunthiana, commonly known as Neelakkurinji (Blue Kurinji), grows in colonies stretching to acres and acres across the Neelgiris – a name ascribed to them due to the blue haze of the Neelakkurinji blooms. It blooms once in twelve years with purplish blue flowers. The habitat of Neelakkurinji is the high altitude Shola Grass lands, above 1400 meters, generally called Kurinji lands. During the season, this flower is seen in abundance in the high altitude grasslands in the Anamalai Hills, the Palani Hills and the Brahmagiri Hills of Western Ghats and the Yerkkad Hills of the Eastern Ghats under the Nilgiri biosphere in South India.
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