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Neelakurinji Flowers – A Biodiversity Indicator of the Western Ghats
- Context (TH): Neelakurinji (Strobilanthes kunthiana) has officially been included under the Vulnerable category in the IUCN Red List of threatened species.
About Neelakurinji
- Common Names: Kurinji, Neelakurinji in Tamil and Malayalam, and Gurige in Kannada.
- The flowers give the ‘Nilgiri Mountain Range’ its name.
- The plant is named after the famous Kunthi River which flows through Kerala’s Silent Valley National Park, where the plant occurs abundantly
- It is an endemic shrub of three-metre height, seen only in the high-altitude shola grassland ecosystems of five mountain landscapes of southwest India at an elevation of 1,340–2,600 m.
- The plant blooms once every 12 years (most recent in 2018).
- The plant grows 30 to 60 cm tall and produces purple-blue flowers, with peak blooming from August to October.
- Tamil Nadu’s Paliyan tribe used the Neelakurinji flowers to calculate age.
- Ecological Role: Key indicator of ecosystem health and biodiversity in the Western Ghats and attracts wildlife, including the endangered Nilgiri Tahr.
- Conservation Status: Vulnerable.
- Threats: Due to agricultural expansion, particularly tea and coffee plantations, tourism.
