Tag: Adenoon indicum

Blue Sonki (Adenoon indicum) is a pretty unique plant. The only member of its genus, it was described first in 1850 CE by the great botanist Nicolas Dalzell. I saw this half meter, knee high, bush in flower on the Kaas plateau at the end of September. It is a spectacular and uncommon native of the western ghats, and not found elsewhere. As you can see from the complex flowers, it is a member of the aster family (Asteraceae). An insight by Dalzell is relevant to the once forested rain-shadowed landscape leeward of the ghats; he was the first person to realize that deforestation is associated with decreased rainfall in the surroundings.