India GO
Flower · Strobilanthes callosa
Karvy
कारवी (karvi)
IUCN LC · Least concern
A tall shrub of the Western Ghats that flowers only once every seven or eight years, and then covers whole hillsides in pale blue-violet at once.
How to recognise it
Between flowerings it is a dull, woody thicket with big rough leaves. In a flowering year the hills above Pune turn blue in September and October.
Where to see it
Mumbai
Sanjay Gandhi National Park has seen karvy flower en masse in 2000, 2008, 2016 and again in 2024, eight years apart each time.
Sanjay Gandhi National Park · Malabar Hill Elevated Nature Trail
Pune
Karvy is the plant that explains why Western Ghats hillsides occasionally turn blue overnight in September. Between flowerings it is a plain woody thicket, and the honey collected in a flowering year is sold as a separate product.
Tamhini Ghat Waterfalls