Strobilanthes is a strange genus. Like the bamboos, it contains multiple species which mass flower once in a while. Bamboos famously die after flowering. Strobilanthes do not. The basket Karvi (Strobilanthes sessilis), for example, mass flowers every seven years, and the small basket shaped bush lives on to flower again. If someone has written about how long a typical bush survives then I would like to know.
Different populations of basket Karvi flower in different years. In Kaas the mass flowering was supposed to be in 2023. When I went at the end of September, the weeks of hard rain had washed away the flowers. It was as disappointing as my visit to Erivakulam national park in 2018 to see the once-in-12-years mass flowering of Neelakurinji (Strobilanthes Kunthiana). That’s a story I’ve written about elsewhere. We don’t know the reasons for mass flowering, but climate change is messing with it.
I’m travelling in a really odd place where no network reaches. I will take a look at your posts and telegrams as soon as I’m able to.