Home / Environment / Kurinji Flower Hoax: Tourists Disappointed by Viral Videos
Kurinji Flower Hoax: Tourists Disappointed by Viral Videos
2 Oct
Summary
- Hundreds of tourists traveled to Mullayyanagiri seeking Neelakurinji flowers.
- Viral videos misled visitors about a mass bloom occurring this year.
- Sporadic blooms and yearly Gurige flowers were mistaken for Neelakurinji.
Tourists recently flocked to the Chandradrona hill range, specifically Mullayyanagiri and Baba Budangiri, only to be met with disappointment. Viral social media videos created an expectation of a mass Neelakurinji bloom, drawing hundreds from across the state. However, this anticipated spectacle is not occurring this year, according to local officials and botanists.
While sporadic blue flowers of the Neelakurinji (Strobilanthes kunthiana) have bloomed on isolated plants, the hillsides remain largely devoid of the purple carpets seen in past years. This phenomenon, which blooms once every twelve years, last occurred on a large scale in 2022. Some viral content appears to be old footage or misleadingly edited, causing significant travel for hopeful visitors.
Compounding the confusion, the yearly blooming 'Gurige' flower (Strobilanthes heyneana Nees) has also started to wilt on the Galikere road. Tourists mistaking these for Neelakurinji have added to the disappointment. Environmentalists are urging visitors to rely on official sources for bloom updates to prevent similar situations and to protect the sensitive grasslands and shola patches from excessive foot traffic.
