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.