‘Neelakurinji’ Bloom

Context

The Neelakurinji flowers have turned the green patches of Bababudangiri range of the Western Ghats (Chandradrona Mountains) into purple-blue.

• Bathukamma flower festival is celebrated in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh as per Satavahana Calendar during the Navratri festival.
  
  

About Neelakurinji Flower

• Nilgiri Hills, which literally means the blue mountains, got their name from the purplish blue flowers of Neelakurinji that bloom only once in 12 years. 
• It is a shrub of the Acanthaceae family.
• It is endemic to Western Ghats, covering the slopes of Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
• Besides the Western Ghats, Neelakurinji is also seen in the Shevroy in the Eastern Ghats, Sanduru hills of Bellary district in Karnataka.
• Karnataka has around 45 species of Neelakurinji and each species blooms at intervals of six, nine, 11 or 12 years. 
• Locally known as Kurinji, the flowers grow at an altitude of 1,300 to 2,400 metres. 
• 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.