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Strobilanthes kunthiana; photograph (c) Srinivasan Kasinathan, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Srinivasan Kasinathan, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2023-06-17

Strobilanthes kunthiana (Nees) T.Anderson ex Benth.

Acanthaceae · India

Cited as Kew's World Checklist cites it, Strobilanthes kunthiana (Nees) T.Anderson ex Benth.: GBIF's backbone key for this page carries the name with another author, (Wall. ex Nees) T.Anderson ex Benth.

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Strobilanthes kunthiana, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedStrobilanthes kunthiana, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedStrobilanthes kunthiana, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedStrobilanthes kunthiana, photograph (c) Pranav Chandra Bose, some rights reserved (CC BY)Strobilanthes kunthiana, photograph (c) Pranav Chandra Bose, some rights reserved (CC BY)Strobilanthes kunthiana, photograph (c) Pranav Chandra Bose, some rights reserved (CC BY) 40 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
7.7°C
Record low 5.1 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
25°C
Mar and Apr at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
2,114mm
11 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
25–42DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in the habitat's months, not shifted
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
A sharp rainy season, May to August and October to November (the habitat's months, not shifted), in a year of even temperature. rain rule, CHELSA
Not shifted: the shift rule does not apply to this habitat. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Strobilanthes kunthiana, known as Kurinji or Neelakurinji in Tamil language and Malayalam and Gurige in Kannada, is a shrub of the bear's breeches family (Acanthaceae) that is found in the shola forests of the Western Ghats in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The purplish blue flower blossoms only once in 12 years, and gave the Nilgiri Mountains range its name as nil (blue) + giri (mountains). Of all long interval bloomers (or plietesials) Strobilanthes kunthiana is the most rigorously demonstrated, with documented bloomings in 1838, 1850, 1862, 1874, 1886, 1898, 1910, 1922, 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018, and 2030, these have no match to Solar cycles. This plant flowers during September–October. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Strobilanthes kunthiana", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Strobilanthes

Strobilanthes is a genus of about 350 species of flowering plants in the family Acanthaceae, mostly native to tropical Asia and Madagascar, but with a few species extending north into temperate regions of Asia. Many species are cultivated for their two-lipped, hooded flowers in shades of blue, pink, white and purple. Most are frost-tender and require protection in frost-prone areas. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Strobilanthes", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,630 mm of 2,182 mm) falls in May to August and October to November. The temperature curve is flat, 3.1 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere. The temperature curve moves under 4 °C between the warmest and coldest month, where the shift rule does not apply, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Rain

2,182 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,630 mm of it May to August and October to November. Wettest month October at 335 mm, driest month February at 24 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 1,202 mm to 3,372 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 2,114 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 2,182 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 25 to 42 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 22, the highest 90th-percentile month 43).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 7.7 °C, the absolute minimum 5.1 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 30.4 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 11.3 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 7.8 °C to 15.6 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 25.2 °C in March (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 7.7 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 54 to 73% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +898 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Strobilanthes kunthiana through the yearWarmest months March and April, mean daily high 25 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 11.3 °C; 2,182 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.0°5°10°15°20°25°30°35°30.4° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER5.1° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500600mm rainDLI 25–42RH 54–73%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 15 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C22 / 19–2724 / 20–2925 / 22–3125 / 21–3023 / 20–2921 / 18–2620 / 17–2520 / 17–2521 / 18–2621 / 18–2620 / 17–2620 / 17–26
Night °C11 / 8–1612 / 8–1714 / 10–1815 / 12–2015 / 12–2015 / 12–2014 / 12–1914 / 11–1914 / 11–1914 / 11–1813 / 10–1812 / 9–16
Rain mm29 / 18–3424 / 14–3470 / 37–114140 / 70–230215 / 117–313292 / 87–487327 / 97–578227 / 101–407214 / 134–321335 / 244–427234 / 158–28175 / 59–86
DLI37 / 34–3840 / 38–4142 / 41–4338 / 36–4034 / 31–3826 / 24–3225 / 22–3026 / 24–3229 / 27–3427 / 26–3128 / 26–3031 / 30–33
RH %56 / 54–5754 / 53–5554 / 50–5662 / 55–6565 / 58–7171 / 64–7973 / 65–7972 / 65–7868 / 64–7368 / 67–7167 / 64–6861 / 58–63
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 15 grid cells holding the 24 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1597:5140 (10.125, 77.025). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 5.1 °C, 1st-percentile night 7.7 °C, 99th-percentile day 30.4 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 15 distinct grid cells holding 24 of the 24 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1597:5140 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 10.00_76.875, lapse-corrected +898 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 1609 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeIndia · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker10.183, 77.057 · in the densest population, 39 records (97% of those in range)
Kew's description“wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 40 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 24 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 26 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 12 km away. 16 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 40 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Strobilanthes kunthiana, photograph 1did not loadStrobilanthes kunthiana, photograph 2did not loadStrobilanthes kunthiana, photograph 3did not loadStrobilanthes kunthiana, photograph 4did not loadStrobilanthes kunthiana, photograph 5did not loadStrobilanthes kunthiana, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (3); (c) Pranav Chandra Bose, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Magnolia nilagirica Magnolia nilagirica Magnoliaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedImpatiens campanulata Impatiens campanulata Balsaminaceae Photo: CC BY, Paulmathi VinodImpatiens parasitica Impatiens parasitica Balsaminaceae Photo: CC BY, Ansil B.R.Maxillaria hematoglossa Maxillaria hematoglossa Orchidaceae Photo: CC0, Sobeida MoralesOncidium constrictum Oncidium constrictum Orchidaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Orchi Apocissus trianae Vitaceae

Other Strobilanthes 32 in the reference

Strobilanthes alternata Strobilanthes alternata Red ivy Photo: CC BY, kumarkvStrobilanthes anisophylla Strobilanthes anisophylla Goldfussia Photo: CC BY, Todd HuangStrobilanthes atropurpurea Strobilanthes atropurpurea Acanthaceae Photo: CC BY, Ramnarayan KStrobilanthes attenuata Strobilanthes attenuata Acanthaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Dinesh ValkeStrobilanthes auriculata Strobilanthes auriculata Acanthaceae Photo: CC BY, Ricci MaseroStrobilanthes callosa Strobilanthes callosa Acanthaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Dinesh ValkeStrobilanthes crispa Strobilanthes crispa Acanthaceae Photo: CC BY, Franz AnthonyStrobilanthes cusia Strobilanthes cusia Acanthaceae Photo: CC BY, 如此甚好Strobilanthes cystolithigera Strobilanthes cystolithigera Acanthaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz Strobilanthes dimorphotricha Acanthaceae Strobilanthes flexicaulis Strobilanthes flexicaulis Acanthaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedStrobilanthes formosana Strobilanthes formosana Acanthaceae Photo: CC BY, 如此甚好 all 33 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Phlebophyllum angustifolium; Phlebophyllum kunthianum; Strobilanthes kunthianus. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Acanthaceae
Described by
(Nees) T.Anderson ex Benth.
Native to
India
Wild records
40 in range · 26 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22GBIF's key 3780145 is Strobilanthes kunthiana (Wall. ex Nees) T.Anderson ex Benth.; the page links Kew's Strobilanthes kunthiana (Nees) T.Anderson ex Benth., and the name is cited as Kew cites it
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 10.00_76.875, lapse-corrected +898 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22found by its label; its IPNI identifier 55761-1 is Kew's for Strobilanthes kunthiana (Nees) T.Anderson ex Benth.
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22none of the photographs on this page is credited to GBIF: those shown are other sources', and GBIF's were the same photographs or were set aside by the photograph rules
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 7 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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