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Tamil Nadu Government announced scheme for protection of exotic Neelakurinji plants
Tamil Nadu Government announced a scheme for the protection of exotic Neela Kurinji plants: Details, Aim, Purpose, Highlights
Tamil Nadu government has announced Scheme for protection of exotic Neelakurinji (Strobilanthus Kunthianus) plants that flower only once in 12 years.
Tamil Nadu's scheme of protecting Neelakurinji plants comes following complaints that these rare and ecologically unique flowers are being packaged and sold on the commercial basis.
About Neelakurinji plant
Neelakurinji plant is a tropical plant species. It is native to Shola forests in the Western Ghats. It is also seen in Shevroys Hills in the Eastern Ghats, Anamalai hills and Agali hills in Kerala and Sanduru hills in Karnataka.
Neelakurinji plants grow at height of 30 to 60 cm on hills slopes at an altitude of 1300 to 2400 meters where there is no tree forest.
Neelakurinji flowers are purple-blue in color and blooms once in 12 years. The flower has no smell or any medicinal value. It is because of these flowers, Nilgiri hills in the southern tip of Western Ghats are called blue mountains.
Neelakurinji plants are rarest of rare plant species that grows in the Western Ghats and does not grow in any other part of the world. It has been categorized as an endangered species.
In ancient Tamil literature, kurinji flowers symbolize love. Paliyan tribal people living in Tamil Nadu use this flower bloom as reference to calculate their age.
