A massive forest fire has eroded the forest lands of the Neelakurinji Sanctuary in Vattavada and Pampadum Shola National Park in Munnar, Kerala.
Kerala forest officials suspect that the fore was man-made and deliberate.
Kurinji or Neelakurinji (Strobilanthes kunthianus) is a shrub that is found in the shola forests of the Western Ghats in South India.
Nilgiri Hills, which literally means the blue mountains, got their name from the purplish-blue flowers of Neelakurinji that blossoms only once in 12 years.
It is the most rigorously demonstrated, with documented bloomings in 1838, 1850, 1862, 1874, 1886, 1898, 1910, 1922, 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006 and 2018.
The Paliyan tribal people living in Tamil Nadu used it as a reference to calculate their age.
Kurinjimala Sanctuary protects the approximately 32-hectare core habitat of the endangered Neelakurinji plant in Idukki district of Kerala State.