The rare purplish blue flowers blossoms only once in 12 years.
Recently, a carpet of blue flowers bloomed at Mandalpatti hill in Kodagu district, Karnataka
Earlier, this month, blue Neelakurinji flowers blossomed in Idukki's Shalomkunnu (Shalom hills ) under the Santhanpara Panchayat.
Kurinji or Neelakurinji, scientifically known as Strobilanthus kunthianus.
The flower gets it name because of its appearance, Neela meaning blue and Kurinji meaning flower in the local language.
With 46 species of Kurinjis found in India, the Neelakurinji is native to the Shola forest of the Western Ghats.
They bloom in the shola forests of the Western Ghats in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
The first settlers of Kodaikanal, the Paliyan and Puliyan tribe are believed to have used the Neelakurinji blooming cycle to calculate their age.