Royal Botanic Garden Peradeniya - Sri Lanka



Orchid House & Gardens
The Orchid House offers the visitor a captivating display of exotic blooms of Cattleya, Dendrobium, Arachins, Oncidium, Phalaenopsis, Vanda and their hybrids. Arround the Orchid House may be seen several hardy tropical orchids including the largest orchid in the world.
(Grammatophyllum speciosum) which produces flower spikes up to 2.5 m long and the Green Orchid (Coelogyne meyeriana).






Fernery
Adjoining the Flower Garden is the Fernery. It is beautifully landscaped with intersecting paths and is well shaded by lofty trees draped with climbing vines and creepers. The fern collection includes about 100 indigenous and exotic species.


Great Lawn
Close to Monument Road is the Great Lawn. The most unique feature here is the java Willow or java Fig Tree (Ficus benjamina) which occupies the centre of the lawn like a giant living umbrella. The ground covered by its enormous spread is about 2,500 sq.m.

The Lake
The Lake is situated in south Drive to the left of the Main Entrance. The margin of the Lake is planted with marsh plants. The most noteworthy is the papyrus of the Nile (Cyperus papyrus).

Spice Garden
The shady Spice Garden situated on the right of the Main Entrance has a representative selection including cinnamon – the main spice exported from this country, pepper – the most demanded spice in the world, cardamom and nutmeg. Some of the oldest nutmeg trees planted in 1840 are still in full bearing.


Double Coconut Palms
There are over 200 species of palms in the gardens. The most remarkable amongst these is the Double Coconut (Lodoicea maldivica) from the Seychelles. This palm Produces the largest seed in the plant kingdom – The fruits take five years to mature. These palms may be seen flanking Monument Road, which branches off to the left from the main central drive, about 100 m from Main Entrance.


Flower Garden

The Flower Garden, near the Orchid House, is laid out with beds of flowering annuals and perennials. The Most striking feature here is the ribbon border of showy coleus varieties traversed by path which leads into an octagonal conservatory. Here may be found a collection of shade – loving plants.

Palm Avenues
There are three magnificent palm avenues, viz. , the graceful cabbage Palm Avenue (Roystonica oleracea) flank – in the River Drive – the palms in this avenue are over 21 m in height; the Palmyrah Palm Avenue (Borassus flabellifer) which joins the Flower Garden with River Drive and the Royal Palm Avenue along the Main Central Drive (Roystonia regia).












Plant House & Cacti
Near the Orchid House is a small plant House containing a variety of green house plants e.g. , Ferns, Begonias, African Anthurium. A collection of cacti xerophytic plants – over 800 specimens – is exhibited in the nearby Cactus House. They includes aloes, agaves, Opuntia, Cereus, Rebutia, Rhipsalis etc.


Bamboo Collection
The bamboo collection is along River Drive to the right of the lake. The giant bamboo of Burma (Dendrocalamus giganteus) is the largest known in the world. The stems attain a height of 30 – 40 m and up to 20 – 25 cm in diameter. The average growth rate of new shoots is about 30 cm a day. Others are the yellow building bamboo (Bambusa vulgaris), the feather – leaved bamboo (Dendrocalamus membranaceus), the prickly bamboo (Bambusa spinosa) and the Dwarf Chinese bamboo.

Flowering Trees & the Arboretum
The most spectacular of the gardens are the flowering trees which come into bloom at various times with peak blooming during the first half of the year. Amherstia nobilis popularly known as the pride of bruma is the finest and a row of this is found planted at the Main Entrance. An extensive Arboretum 20 ha in extent contains approximately 10,000 trees. Some of these trees are magnificent specimens which are over 100 years old. Among them are many tropical timber trees such as stainwood and mahogany.