Royal Botanical Garden of Peradeniya established on Sep 11, 1821 :

Gardens that radiate life

Wasantha RAMANAYAKE

To the general public it is Peradeniya Malwatta. The general idea is that this botanical gardens is a haven for the couples young and just a beautiful place to visit and enjoy. This very idea would undermine the universal and historical importance of the Royal Botanical Garden of Peradeniya (RBGP), says the Botanical Garden Department Director General (DG) Sisil Wijesundara.

The RBGP holds a unique place among the world of botanical gardens as it is rated as one of the few classic botanic gardens in the world. "Probably the best in Asia. Some people say that only the Bogor Botanic gardens in Indonesia would come close to match our standard," he noted.

The garden is annually visited by some 1.4 million visitors and out of which 200,000 are foreigners he said. He said that most importantly around 200,000 school children visit the garden annually who are the future citizens of the country. "We would teach them the importance of flora conservation," he said.

Also under the charming beauty and greenery, multifaceted tasks of the RBGP hardly surface.

Many are not aware of its contribution to conserve the plants of near extinction, the development of the floriculture industry and the conducting of education and training programs.

According to the DG the Peradeniya garden has many important components that include; Living plant collection, the National Herbarium where a large collection of dried plants are preserved for the future generations, landscape features, such as lawns and ponds, floriculture research laboratories and nurseries, education and training centres.

He believed that each of these components were equally important but what is most important was the living plant collection gets priority closely followed by the national herbarium.

What is the historical importance of the trees grown? There are memorial trees which had been planted by Kings, queens and visiting heads of states, scientists and even astronomers. The DG pointed out that the garden proudly inherits a Bo plant planted by the King Edward the Seventh before ascending to the throne in 1875 and a Na tree planted by one of the Russian Czars in 1891.

The first man who was out in space Uri Gagarin had also planted a tree in the garden.

In addition a large number of trees which are very rare and threatened in the wilderness are conserved outside their natural habitat which are referred to as ex-situ conservation. "There are many such trees both local and foreign planted here," he said. According to the DG there are about 10,000 trees and over 4,000 different species of plants in the garden.

But how and where do the garden get these plants and trees? The Director General says that scientists and field officers make annual plant exploration trips to collect plants. "Especially whenever there are places which would go underwater due to the construction of some reservoirs we would collect rare plants," he noted.

Also there are plant exchange programs where the PRBG would get plants from other countries.

He said that plants are given to foreign institutions, "If there is a request from a bona fide scientific institutions and if it is in accordance with our rules and regulations we honour those requests."

The DG says that they are planning to increase the indigenous plant collection.

"The government policy is to establish 10 botanic gardens in diverse climatic conditions by 2016 to cultivate as many pants as possible, as a measure of conservation," says the DG.

The DG pointed out that there are plans to promote the floriculture industry by providing assistance and empowering the growers.

The DG says that the garden conducts programs on educating people on plant conservation and floriculture, "This is another important area that we are involved in a big way." He added that one year and two year diploma courses are conducted for people.

"By 1980 Sri Lanka earned Rs.1.6 million from floriculture exports and last year Sri Lanka earned a little over Rs 1,500 million (Rs 1.5 billion).

Commenting on the future The DG regarded the attitudes of people, weather and termites as the major challenges. "The variation of the weather is a major challenge," he said.

The main attractions of the Royal Botanical Garden Peradeniya

* Orchid House

* Fernery

* Great Lawn

* Sri Lanka pond

* Spice Garden

* Flower Garden

* Palm Avenues

* Plant House

* Cactus house

* Bamboo Collection

* Arboretum

* Double Coconut palms

* Cycad collection

* Medicinal plant garden

* Students' garden

* Pandanus collection

* Ebony collection

* Agaves collection

* Palm collection

* Conifer collection

* Aquatic plant collection

* Lawn grass collection

* Memorial trees

The main objectives of the Botanic Gardens at present are:

Planning and implementation of ex-situ (out side their natural habitat) conservation strategies for the conservation of Sri Lankan plant diversity.

Carry out activities to disseminate authentic information and technical expertise on plants and plant-related industries of Sri Lanka using educational and communication strategies.

Conduct diverse research and implement technologies to develop floriculture industry in Sri Lanka.

Management and development of National Botanic Gardens at high standards

Prepare development plans for the establishment of new botanic gardens in appropriate places.

Plan and implement research and technical programs needed to popularise Amenity Horticulture in Sri Lanka.

Tracing the history of Royal Botanical Garden of Peradeniya to the present

The history of the Royal Botanic Gardens dates as far back as 1371 when King Wickramabahu III ascended the throne and kept court at Peradeniya near Mahaweli Ganga. Later, in the reign of King Kirthi Sri from 1747 to 1780 this was made a Royal Garden and from 1780 - 1798 King Rajadhi Rajasinghe resided therein, where a temporary residence was erected for him.

A vihare and dagoba were built in the reign of King Wimala Dharma which was improved by King Rajadhi Rajasinghe.

The vihare and dagoba were destroyed by the English when they occupied Kandy. The famous historical battle of Gannoruwa between Rajasinghe II and the Portuguese was fought on the Northern side of the river. A priest resided here till the Garden was formed by Mr. Alexandar Moon in 1821 six years after the final conquest of the Kandyan Kingdom. In 1810 under the advice of Sir Joseph Banks a garden named Kew was opened in Slave island and William Kerr was appointed as its Superintendent.

In 1813 the garden was moved to Kalutara for the reception of economic plants which could be cultivated there on a larger scale than was possible at Slave Island.

Kerr died in 1814 and under the rule of his successor Alexander Moon this Garden was finally moved to Peradeniya on September 11,1821 as it was found to be favourable and better adapted for the proposed Botanic establishment. The transfer of exotics from the Kalutara Garden was made by successive Superintendents at least up to 1843.

During Moon's superintendence the opening of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya, can be said to have commenced though at first only the South West portion of the Gardens was cleared and opened and it was mostly planted with cinnamon and coffee. Moon published his "Catalogue of Ceylon Plants" in 1824 in which was given the Botanical and native names of 1,127 plants, indigenous to the island. After the appointment of Mr. George Gardner in 1844 the institution started upon its more active independent and useful existence that it has since maintained. Only 40 acres of the 147 acres were in cultivation when Gardner took charge and the chief use made of the land was to grow jak, coconuts and vegetables for sale by the Government Agent in Kandy.

Currently Deputy Director K.N. Yapa who is in charge of the Gotanical Garden.