From the archive record
The Monsoons in Kerala do not take the pattern of incessant rains continuing for weeks. Virtually it rains for a few hours with sunny interludes. Occasionally the rains might stretch on for a few days but the respite of sunshine is never far away. Kerala has mainly two rainy seasons. The Southwest Monsoon that arrives in the month of June is called Edavappathy, as it comes in the middle of the month of Edavam on the Malayalam Calendar. A typical shola land is ‘Avalanche, about 30 km from Ooty and comprising of a lake, shola grassland as well as spectacular mountain view. Sharp ecotone between the shola and grassland structure has been attributed to prevalence of forest fire. These are some native shola trees are, Pygecum gardneri, Scheffera racemosa, Linociera ramiflora, Syzium spp , Rh