Top Station in Munnar

Top Station is tourist destination which falls along the border of the state of Tamil Nadu. The region is part of constituency of bodi Theni district in Tamil Nadu. Top Station is notable as the historic transshippmentlocation for tea delivered up here from Munnar and Madupatty by railway and then down by ropeway to Kottagudi.This area is popular for the rare Neelakurinji flowers. The Kurinjimala Sanctuary is nearby. Top Station is the western entrance to the planned Palani Hills National Park
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Top Station is 32 km from Munnar. Ernakulam railway station is about 162 km from Top Station and Cochin International Airport is about 142 km from Top Station. Frequent public buses operate between Munnar and Top Station. Overnight stay is available at Periyar Residency Top Station.


 Neelakurinji flowers. 

Neelakurinji (Strobilanthes Kunthiana) is a bush with several branches.  The species name Kunthiana has been derived from the River Kunthi which flows through the rich expanse of the renowned Silent Valley National Park in Kerala.  It means that the plant has been first described from the vicinity of this river.  The plant grows profusely Shola grasslands and mountain slopes of the mighty Western Ghats and Nilgiris in India.  Neelakurinji blooms in a clustered manner on typical inflorescence stocks once in every 12 years.  The flowering season ranges between August and November with a peak period of late September and October although some varieties exhibit little variation in their phrenology.   The flower has purplish blue colour when aged. It looks light blue in the earlier stage of blooming.
The Nilgiris owe the Neelakurinji for it's name which means blue mountains as it used to clothe a vast area of hills. Neelameans blue in Malayalam language and Kurinji is the local name of the flower. There are about 300 species of plants that bloom in 10 to 16 years and Neelakurinji is the best known among them. About 46 of them are found in India . Plants that bloom at long intervals like this is called plietesials. These are mostly found on the hills of high altitude. The main habitat of Neelakurinji is hills surrounding Munnar which is in the Western Ghats. It has become a symbol of bio-diversity of the Western Ghats. This endemic species is also an indicator of the health of the ecosystem. It may well be claimed as flagship species of the mountains