Seethawaka Botanical Garden, or Seethawaka Wet Zone Botanic Garden is a botanical garden located in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

which mainly serves as a research area and a conservation area for threatened and vulnerable endemic plant species in the

Sinharaja Rain Forest Sinharaja Forest Reserve is a forest reserve and a biodiversity hotspot in Sri Lanka. It is of international significance and has been designated a Biosphere Reserve and World Heritage Site by UNESCO. According to International Union for Conserv ...

region. Improving export floriculture, ex-situ conservation of wet lowland plants, and

bamboo cultivation Bamboo forestry (also known as bamboo farming, cultivation, agriculture or agroforestry) is a cultivation and raw material industry that provides the raw materials for the broader bamboo industry, worth over 72 billion dollars globally in 2019. H ...

are also promoted in this garden. The garden was opened to the public in late October 2014 and it is the most recently constructed botanical garden in Sri Lanka.

History

The garden was established in 20th century as a plantation for

Rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, and ...

and

Tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and northe ...

, which was owned by a garden known as "Pannaagula". But most of the land area was abandoned on that time, which was taken over by the Land Reform Commission. The construction of the Botanical garden commenced in 2008 and it was formally opened to the public in October 2014. The total land area of the garden is .

Location and climate

Seethawaka Botanical Garden is situated on the

Puwakpitiya Puwakpitiya is a village in Sri Lanka. It is located within Central Province. See also *List of towns in Central Province, Sri Lanka Central Province is a province of Sri Lanka, containing the Kandy District, Matale District, and Nuwara Eliya ...

- Thummodara road, at Illukowita, adjacent to the Indikada Mukalana Forest Reserve at

Avissawella Avissawella, ( si, අවිස්සාවේල්ල, ta, அவிசாவளை) is a township in Sri Lanka, governed by an Urban Council, situated on the A4 route from Colombo to Ratnapura, Colombo District, Western Province, Sri Lanka, ap ...

. The garden has a

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorologic ...

. A beautiful stream flows through the garden, which sustains the existence of various wet zone plants. The tree cover is made up of large ''

Terminalia arjuna ''Terminalia arjuna'' is a tree of the genus '' Terminalia''. It is commonly known as arjuna or arjun tree in English. Description ''T. arjuna'' grows to about 20–25 metres tall; usually has a buttressed trunk, and forms a wide canopy at the ...

'' trees.

References

{{Reflist Colombo District Botanical gardens in Sri Lanka