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Royal Botanical Garden, Peradeniya is situated about 5.5 km to the west from the
city of Kandy in the Central Province of Sri Lanka.and attracts 1.2 million visitors
annually, It is renowned for its collection of a variety of orchids. It includes
more than 300 varieties of orchids, spices, medicinal plants and palm trees. Attached
to it is the National Herbarium. The total area of the botanical garden is 147 acres
(0.59 km2), at 460 meters above sea level, and with a 200-day annual rainfall. It
is managed by the Division of National Botanic Gardens of the Department of Agriculture.
The origins of the Botanic Gardens date as far back as 1371 when King Wickramabahu
III ascended the throne and kept court at Peradeniya near Mahaweli river. This was
followed by King Kirti Sri and King Rajadhi Rajasinghe. A temple was built on this
location by King Wimala Dharma, but it was destroyed by the British when they were
given control over the Kingdom of Kandy. Thereafter, the groundwork for a botanical
garden was formed by Alexandar Moon in 1821. The Botanical Garden at Peradeniya
was formally established in 1843 with plants brought from Kew Garden, Slave Island,
Colombo, and the Kalutara Garden in Kalutara. The Royal Botanic Garden, Peradeniya
was made more independent and expanded under George Gardner as superintendent in
1844.On his death in 1849 George Henry Kendrick Thwaites became superintendent.The
Garden came under the administration of the Department of Agriculture when it was
established in 1912.
The classical Avenue of Palms is located in this Garden. One tree with a significant
history is the Cannonball Tree planted by King George V of the United Kingdom and
Queen Mary in 1901. The tree is bent with its fruits, which look like cannonballs.
During the Second World War, the Botanical Garden was used by Lord Louis Mountbatten,
the supreme commander of the allied forces in the South Asia, as the headquarters
of the South East Asia Command.
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