Sowing months
Jun–Jul
Sunlight
Full sun at altitude
Water
High rainfall, cool air
Mature size
30–180 cm
First harvest
Flowers once in 12 years
Family
Acanthaceae
Where it grows
Garden / ground
Good for
Biodiversity, Flowers & beauty
Sow in
Monsoon
Care
A hill species; it needs cool wet air and will not grow in the plains.
The shrub that turns the Nilgiri slopes blue once every twelve years, then dies.
Growing it
A hill species; it needs cool wet air and will not grow in the plains.
What it is for
Mass flowering spectacle; the emblem plant of the Nilgiris.