Kurinji blooms in Anakkaramettu

Curbs on visitors as COVID-19 protocol is in place

‘Where flowers bloom so does hope.’ In these pandemic times, the

purplish blue flowers of the neelakurinji have started blanketing the hills of Anakkaramettu on the Western Ghats bordering Tamil Nadu. Though the flowers started blooming a few days ago, there is hardly anyone to stand and stare as the Tamil Nadu Forest Department has imposed curbs on visitors due to the COVID-19 situation.

With a few pictures of the blooms appearing on social media, the department has tightened vigil in the area. An official of the Forest Department said senior officials visited the area and a temporary camp was set up there to prevent visitors as the COVID-19 protocol was in place.

Local residents said they were not allowed to visit even the nearby grasslands and they were prevented from grazing cattle there.

Isolated flowering

But the flowering in Anakkaramettu is unlike the massive flowering usually witnessed in the hills of Munnar.

Isolated flowering did not give the feeling compared to the massive flowering when the entire hills resembled a purplish blue carpet, said a senior official of the Forest Department.

Flowering of neelakurinji in isolated areas was not an usual thing, he added. “There are various species in the genus of Strobilanthes. Though Strobilanthes kunthiana flowers only once in 12 years, Strobilanthes cuspidatus flowers every seven years. A gap of 42 years is seen in the flowering of some other species,” he said.

Changes in climatic conditions and and soil elements could also cause changes in the periodicity of flowering.

Several species

Some new species of Strobilanthes have also been discovered. Strobilanthes sainthomiana, Strobilanthes malabaricus and Strobilanthes kannani are some species newly discovered from Vaithalmala in Kannur district recently. Strobilanthes agasthyamalana is a new species found in the Agasthyamala region in the southern tip of the Western Ghats.

Nature lovers missed the previous neelakurinji season in Munnar in 2018 due to the floods.

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