Royal Botanic Gardens Peradeniya a botanist asks what the casual lists leave out

Gardens man for three decades so the connoisseur tour For your pilgrimage list the giant Javan fig on the great lawn a single tree shading 2500 square meters the canopy a weather system of its own The cannonball tree avenue planted 1901 flowering directly from the trunk The double coconut from the Seychelles the coco de mer specimens here set fruit and the largest seed in the plant kingdom is occasionally on display at the entrance The cabbage palm avenue planted 1905 and the royal palm avenue 1885 both in their full architectural maturity The orchid house holds 300 plus varieties strongest in the Dendrobium and Vanda collections with the endemic Vesak orchid the national flower when in season The spice section gives you nutmeg clove and the true cinnamon in living form connecting every market quill to its tree The memorial trees are a Victorian guestbook in living wood planted by emperors kings and cosmonauts find the 1891 ironwood planted by the Tsar of Russia The flying fox colony thousands of giant fruit bats festoon the riverside trees along the Mahaweli loop wheeling spectacularly through the afternoon photograph from the river path Herbarium access the National Herbarium operates within the gardens with the island flora collection academic visitors arrange access through the Department of National Botanic Gardens in advance bring institutional credentials Practicalities foreigner entry around 3500 LKR open 0730 to 1700 weekday mornings are contemplative weekends bring courting couples under every tree which is its own anthropology Three hours minimum for your tribe a full day is not excessive the suspension bridge and river loop add the wilder edge