The Neelakurinji flower is a rare shrub that blooms once every 12 years in the Western Ghats mountain range of South India. The blooming of the Neelakurinji flower is a natural phenomenon that is linked to the life cycle of the plant, which flowers once every 12 years.
The name Neelakurinji means "blue flower" in Malayalam, a language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala.
The Neelakurinji flower has an intense blue-purple color and can cover the hillsides with a carpet of blue when it blooms.
The flowering period of the Neelakurinji plant usually lasts for around three months, particularly to the hill station of Munnar in the state of Kerala.
The Neelakurinji plant is endemic to the Western Ghats, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the world's biodiversity hotspots. The Neelakurinji flower has been featured on Indian postage stamps and is also the state flower of Kerala.
The Neelakurinji flower has cultural and religious significance among the indigenous tribes of the Western Ghats, who believe that the flowering of the plant signals the arrival of a new era.