Neelakurinji flower

• • • • Best places in Munnar to visit to watch Neelakurinji flowers bloom after 12 years Best places in Munnar to visit to watch Neelakurinji flowers bloom after 12 years Neelakurinji also known as Kurinji is a rare purplish-blue flower which only blooms once in 12 years in the lush hills of Munnar in Kerala. As we prepare ourselves for the rare spectacle, here's a list of places you can visit. The Neelakurinji flowers will bloom in the Anamalai hills near Munnar, Kerala. (Source: Kerala tourism/Balan Madhavan) As the blooming season hits India, travel agencies see a noticeable rise in holiday bookings to the hills and valleys. Be it the tulips of Kashmir in March or the Neelakurinji of Kerala, travellers gather at these popular holiday destinations to witness the magic of flowers. Neelakurinji (strobilanthes kunthiana) also known as Kurinji is a rare purplish-blue flower which only blooms once in 12 years in the lush hills of Munnar in Kerala. The season starts in July and lasts till October. For those who aren’t aware, Munnar is a hill station in the western ghats mountain range in Kerala. The rolling hills dotted with tea plantations, established in the late 19th century, was a former resort for the British Raj elite. Eravikulam National Park, Nilgiri Tahr, Lakkam Waterfalls, and the 2,695m-tall Anamudi Peak are some of the places worth visiting. Here’s a list of five other places that needs to be on your checklist. Pothamedu The aromatic spice plantations, exotic tea ...

Among plants, there are annuals and perennials. Annual plants complete their life cycle in one year. They grow from the seed, bloom, produce seeds and die in one growing season. Perennials live for more than two years and usually flower every year and set seeds. Some perennials flower only once in their lifetime, set seeds and die. The next generation of the plants are established from these seeds and the cycle is repeated. Such plants are known as monocarpic, opposed to polycarpic plants that flower and set seeds many times during its lifetime. Monocarpic plants flower only after attaining maturity. The time taken by different species may differ in this respect. Bamboos are monocarpic plants taking more than 40 years to mature and flower. Another characteristic shown by such plants is that these will flower gregariously in a single season. This happens in the case of bamboos and Kurinjis. The term 'plietesials' is used to refer to such plants. The time taken to mature varies in different species of Kurinjis. So different species of Kurinjis have different intervals of flowering. Neelakurinji matures in 12 years time and flowers gregariously every 12 years. Prof. E. Kunhikrishnan Toll free No: 1-800-425-4747 (within India only) Department of Tourism, Government of Kerala, Park View, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India - 695 033 Phone: +91 471 2321132, Fax: +91 471 2322279, E-mail: All rights reserved © Kerala Tourism 2017. Copyright | Terms of Use. Developed & Maintained by ...

Seen in these photos is Chikmagalur, a little away from Bengaluru, which is one of the regions of Karnataka where people have been travelling, to witness the serene beauty of nature. This time, tourists are also able to find these flowers in many places between Seethalayanagiri and Mullayanagiri of Chikmagalur. (Express photo by Jithendra M) These flowers are said to grow at an altitude of 1,300 to 2,400 metres, and their peak blooming season is between August and October. Interestingly, over 250 variations of these flowers are found across the world, of which, 46 variations of Neelakurinji are seen in India. (Express photo by Jithendra M) Environmentalists have pointed out that owing to climate change, the blossoming of the flowers was delayed and pushed to this year; over the years, the blooming has become unpredictable. These flowers also attract bees that pollinate; it leads to extraction of a rare kind of honey. (Express photo by Jithendra M)

Kurinji or Neelakurinji shrubs and flowers in bloom in the Seethalayyana Giri Hill Ranges, in the Western Ghats of Chikkamagaluru district. Honey bees act as pollinators of Neelakurinji. The nectar collected by honey bees from these flowers is found to be very tasty, nutritious and has medicinal values. | Photo Credit: K. MURALI KUMAR Visitors taking pictures on a hill adorned by Neelakurinji flowers, that bloom once in 12 years, at Seethalayyana Giri Hill Range in Chikkamagaluru. | Photo Credit: K. MURALI KUMAR The Neelakurinji flowers that blossom once in many years have turned the green patches of hill stations in Chikkamagaluru into purple-blue, thus attracting hundreds of visitors. For over 20 days, thousands of people have visited Seethalayyana Giri, Mullayyanagiri, and Bababudangiri in the Chandradrona Range of the hills. The narrow roads of the hill station were flooded with vehicles on the weekend. Last Sunday, by 10 a.m., more than 200 vehicles had crossed the check-post at Kaimara near Chikkamagaluru. By afternoon, the parking yards were full and traffic was moving at a snail’s pace. “The traffic on the weekend towards the hill stations is high normally. Due to the neelakurinji flowers, the number of visitors has multiplied. Visitors are coming from faraway places,” said Prasanna, a local taxi driver. Neelakurinji, a shrub, is found in shola forests of the Western Ghats. Taxonomists, who visited the site, identified it as Strobilanthes sessilis. The one normally...