Kurinji Festival: A Charming Flower that only Blossoms once in 12 years

A vivid blue bellshaped flower known as the gregarious blossoming of Kurnji or neelakurinji Strobilanthes Kunthiana may be found on the western ghats hill slopes between 6000 and 7000 feet in elevation The Kurinji flower is indigenous to South India and may be found in the Tamilnadu regions of Kodaikanal Palani Nammalai and Nilgris The shrub known as kurinji was once quite common in the shola grasslands of the Western Ghats in South India above 1800 metres The purplishblue blooms of Neelakurinji which bloom gregariously just once every 12 years gave the Nilgris hills which are also known as the blue mountains its name Many different plant species like Kurinji strobilanthes Kunthiana synchronise their flowering reproductive phase among significant local populations at a particular site The unique feature of the flower is that it decays and dies after blossoming leaving the seeds in the soil which regrows and blossoms again after 12 years This festival includes the display of about 50 types of Kurinji flowers available in the region Some of the popular variants areBlack Kurinji StrabilanthesLurides and White Kurinji StrabilanthesUrceolaris During this festival lakhs of tourist flock to the venue to see the miraculous flower blossoming The Nilgiris also serves as a top destination for ecotourism as it offers an International Biosphere Reserve revered as Nilgiris Biosphere Reserve The district is also home to a rare species Nilgiris Tahr which is also considered as the state animal The Nilgiris offers an array of attractions to the millions of tourists visiting here