Sanjay Gandhi National Park
The "karvi" shrub, as it is locally called in the Marathi language, sometimes also spelled as "karvy" in English, only blooms once in eight years in a mass flowering covering the forest floor in a lavender blush. It grows in abundance in the Western Ghats hills near Mumbai including throughout the Sanjay Gandhi National Park as in other parts of its natural range. In Sanjay Gandhi National Park its latest blooming took place in 2008, and it is scheduled to bloom here again in 2016. Termed by nature enthusiasts as 'nature's miracle' its maximum bloom can be seen on some of the inner paths and trails that lie undisturbed in the park. It survives best on the vast sloping expanses of the hillsides, with the Kanheri caves area of the park being one of the best places to observe large areas of blooms.
Sanjay Gandhi National Park
Temperature tends to stay a little cooler than the city because of a large green cover. During winters, dense fog can be seen and night temperatures below 15°C is common. Due to its natural green cover and presence of lake and elevation to some extent, rainfall varies greatly as what the city sees. The most southern part of the city (Colaba) receives an average of 2200 mm of rainfall annually, the northern part (Santacruz) receives 2500 mm and the national park just 12 km away from Santacruz receives more than 3000 mm annually.