The Neelakurinji flowers that blossom once in many years have turned the green patches of hill stations in Chikkamagaluru into purple-blue, thus attracting hundreds of visitors. In Chikkamagaluru, the flowers have appeared after 16 years.
- For over 20 days, thousands of people have visited Seethalayyana Giri, Mullayyanagiri, and Bababudangiri in the Chandradrona Range of the hills.
- Neelakurinji, a shrub, is found in shola forests of the Western Ghats.
- Taxonomists, who visited the site, identified it as Strobilanthes sessilis. The one normally found in Munnar is Strobilanthes kunthiana.
- The shrub is endemic to the Western Ghats. There are many varieties of the plant and a few varieties are seen in Karnataka.
- ‘Neela’ literally translates to ‘blue’ and kurinji is the name given to it by the tribals of the area.
