Tourists flock to Nilgiris to behold rare Kurinji bloom

Udhagamandalam: The mass flowering of kurinji flowers, known as 'Strobilanthes Kunthianus' in botanical parlance, in the Nilgiris, has evoked much interest and excitement among tourists and locals.

The flower, which blooms once in seven to 12 years, has captivated the attention of many a tourists, who are making a beeline to view the spectacle at the Kundha range of forest areas, located at an altitude of 6,000 to 7,000 feet in the Nilgiris.

"The flower blooms for a very short period and this year the flowering has been reported in various pockets of Nilgiris, including Kinnakorai and Manjore areas of the Kundha range. Although, there is no documentation of the medicinal property of the kurinji flower, locals value its honey for its medicinal property," N

Mani

, joint director of Horticulture, Nilgiris told TOI. He added, "It's also a source of nectar for rock bees,"

Given the rising tourist attraction, the horticulture department has procured some of the flowers, to put on display them at the Government Botanical Garden (GBG) in

Ooty

.

"I am delighted to have had a glimpse of the kurinji in full bloom. I've heard about it's rarity and this is the first time I am coming across the flower," said

L Kannan

, a tourist from Chennai, who paid a visit to the GBG.

Tribes living in the hills, like Kurumbas and

Todas

, used to reckon their age with the blossoming of this flower. The Irulas and Kotas were a little more aesthetic- they used to analyse the prosperity of the coming years with the burst of its brilliant colours and the density of its bloom. Even the

Badagas

use the flowers to keep account of their lineage.

Interestingly, there were other dimensions too; the Todas linked the blooming to womanhood; the Badagas gave the flower prominence even in their funeral litany, i.e. asking for forgiveness if the flower was plucked or the plant hurt.

The Tamils topped it all and blanketed the whole extent of a cultural and ecological zone under the name 'kurinji', one of the four or five identifiable geographical regions in ancient Tamil literature indicating vistas of hillsides.

There are nearly 200 species of 'strobilanthes', mostly in Asia and about 100 of them are found in the Western Ghats. Of these the Nilgiris claims more than thirty species. "Few years ago, occurrence of white kurinji were also noticed in the district," said Mani.