Strobilanthes callosus

Strobilanthes callosus Nees (Synonym: Carvia callosa (Nees) Bremek) is a shrub found mainly in the low hills of the western ghats all along the west coast of India. Its standardized Hindi language name is Maruadona (मरुआदोना) by which it is called in the state of Madhya Pradesh where it is also found. In the state of Maharashtra in the Marathi language and other local dialects and in the neighboring state of Karnataka the shrub is locally known as Karvi, sometimes spelled in English as Karv.

This shrub belongs to the genus Strobilanthes which was first scientifically described by Nees in the 19th century. The genus has around 250 species, of which at least 46 are found in India. Most of these species show an unusual flowering behaviour, varying from annual to 16-year blooming cycles, on the national scale there is often confusion about which plant is flowering.

It is a large shrub, sometimes attaining 6–20 ft in height and 2 1/2 inches in diameter and flowers between July and September but what makes it most famous is that it takes nearly a decade for the bloom cycle to happen. Its leaves are home to several insects including caterpillars and snails which feed on it. The shrub has an interesting life cycle, it comes alive green every year with the coming of Monsoon, but once the rainy season is over, all that is left is dry and dead-looking stems. This pattern repeats itself for seven years, but in the eighth year the plant bursts into mass flowering

Plants that bloom at long intervals like Strobilanthes callosus are known as plietesials, the term plietesial has been used in reference to perennial monocarpic plants “of the kind most often met with in the Strobilanthinae” (a subtribe of Acanthaceae containing Strobilanthes and allied genera) that usually grow gregariously, flower simultaneously following a long interval, set seed, and die. Other commonly used expressions or terms which apply to part or all of the plietesial life history include gregarious flowering, mast seeding, and supra-annual synchronized semelparity (semelparity = monocarpy).

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strobilanthes_callosus
See Also: sending flowers, online florist