It was the Geman botanist Christian Gottfried Daniel Nees von Esenbeck (February 1776 – March 1856) who nomenclatured Neelakurinji as Strobilantehs Kunthiana. The standard botanical author abbreviation for him is Nees. He classified Neelakurinji to be of : -
Kingdom
Plantae
Division
Magnoliophyta
Class
Magnoliopsida
Order
Lamiales
Family
Acanthaceae
Genus
Strobilanthes
Species
S. Kunthiana
Nees described about 6,900 plant species. He was the predsident of the Geman Academy of natural Scientists Leopoldina. He also authored large number of monographs on botany and zoology.
