Neelakurinji blooms after 12 years!

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 Neelakurinji

As their are so many varieties of amazing and unique flowers all around the world that one can't stop wondering and exploring about them.
 So, here we are going to check out some interesting facts about a wonderful variety of blossoms! 




Have you ever watched these blue blossoms during your vacations in the parts of South India?

These are Neelakurinji flowers, as known in the local language of Tamil people.

The flowers are known as Neelakurinji because of their appearance where 'Neela' means blue and 'kurinji' means flower.

The scientific name of this flower is Strobilanthes kunthiana, also known as Kurinji by the Tamilians.













It is a shrub with a height of 30-60 cm, which mainly grows in the Shola forests of the Western Ghats in Kerala.
These blue flowers are also found in some regions of Eastern Ghats - ldduki district, Palakkad, Karnataka, Agali hills and Sanduru Hills in Bellary.

There are about 33 varieties of Kurinji flower in Ooty, the Queen of hills.
It is popularly known as Blue mountain as the landscape gets completely covered with the Neelakurinji.

The shrubs also grow in Coonoor, Kothagiri and Lamb's rock.

 The most amazing fact about this flower is that it blooms only once in 12 years, which is the main reason behind its fame!

Now, you might be thinking that,
  
Why they bloom after a cycle of 12 years?

It is a monocarpic plant, which means that after blooming, each shrub reproduces just once and dies after that.
The interval of 12 years for the blooming of the flowers, works for the survival of plants. As a large number of seeds are produced at a time and predators cannot eat them all at a time!

Another amazing thing related to their blooming cycle is that, this 12 years cycle was used by the Paliyan tribal people of Tamil Nadu to calculate their age. 
Whenever the flower bloomed, they would add 12 years to their age!


The blue beauty of the blossoms can be spotted during September- October.




As they take so many years to bloom, it increases the enthusiasm among the tourists and the nature lovers to watch this rare beauty once in 12 years.

While exploring some stunning facts about Neelakurinji flowers, I found an interesting happening related to these blossoms and decided to share that with you all -

Once, in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, when the Neelakurinji flowers bloomed in 2006 after 12 years of gap and because of its rare sight the state government had declared that year as the ' Year of Kurinji '!

The credit of images goes to the respective owners.

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Thanks for reading...

So, guys lets end up our discussion with a lovely flower quote but don't forget to share your views in the comment box about the lovely blue blossoms!

“Flowers whisper ‘Beauty!’ to the world, even as they fade, wilt, fall.”

– Dr. SunWolf





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