Wild Flowers ‹‹ Go Back

There are 3,154 flowering plants (Angiosperms) in the country of which 894 are endemic. Other than the indigenous and endemic wild flower species found in the country there are many exotic introduced species, which can be seen growing wild in semi urban areas. Being a tropical country Sri Lanka is gifted with a rich diversity of wild flower species. Our great chronicle Mahavansa (350 A.D) makes reference to the people admiring a large number of wild flowers found in the country. This is the earliest record of the nations floral heritage. While many endemic species are restricted to the wet zone and hill country forests the dry zone also has an abundance of wild flower species. Even in the arid zone the brown parched desolate fields will convert in to multitude of colour with many tiny wild flowers for a few weeks after the rains.  

References

• Illustrated Field Guide to the Flowers of Sri Lanka, 2000 by Dr. J. de. Vlas and J. de Vlas de Jong.
• Wild Flowers of Sri Lanka, 2011 by Arittha Wikramanayake.
• Beautiful Wild Flowers of Sri Lanka, 1995 Royal Botanic Gardens Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.
• Wild Flowers of Ceylon, 1954 by Dorothy Fernando
• Resource Inventory of Wilpattu National Park - Final Report By The World Conservation Union (IUCN) Sri Lanka, December 2006