In south India, thousands of beautiful bluish-purple flowers bloom in synchrony once every 12 years and carpet the Anamalai hills, in Kerala. The last time this happened was in 2018. But could it be the area’s last ever bloom?
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The shrubs of Strobilanthes kunthianus or the neelakurinji as it is locally known, have only bloomed about 15 times since they were first documented in 1838. The breathtaking flowering occurs in only one place in the entire world: Eravikulam National Park, near Munnar in Kerala.
Since ancient times, the neelakurinji have held a special place in legend and lore. According to a September 2018 report in the National Geographic, Tamil Sangam literature refers to the flowers in poems that were written in the first century. The indigenous Muthuvan people, who live on the border hill forests between Kerala and Tamil Nadu, have even been known to attribute their ages to the number of flowerings they have witnessed.
Over the decades, the flowers have come to be known as symbols of love and romance. Their 12-year bloom is part of the historic legacy of the region.
But unfortunately, the neelakurinji are slowly disappearing. They were once abundant in the mountains of the Western Ghats, but have had to deal with several threats on different fronts. The flowers’ grasslands have been stripped down because of agriculture, new eucalyptus and acacia plantations, and more recently, tourism.
According to a 2018 report in UK-based news website BBC, incessant rainfall and floods during monsoon season also pose a problem, since neelakurinji need 10 days of continuous sunshine to bloom.
The already rare sight of the beautiful flowers may soon become a fading memory. Scientists say there is a chance they will bloom in 2030, but after that, their survival, sadly, remains a question mark.
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