A botanical treasure trove that grew within the Gardens
translation assisted by Reverend B. Clough, it was intended for local as well as English readers. It was structured on the scientific and natural system of classification of plants essentially based on reproductive organs (Linnaean or Sexual System):
The plant list had 1,127 species including 366 species cultivated in the Peradeniya Gardens.
Complete with references, a descriptive catalogue of plant names, and indices, it is considered the oldest and most comprehensive account of the island’s plant biodiversity published in Sinhala (and also in English).
Botanical drawings
Another of Moon’s contributions was the appointment in 1818 of Haramanis de Alwis Seneviratne of Kalutara as a ‘native writer’. Haramanis displayed an extraordinary talent for botanical drawing and with the establishment of the Botanical Gardens in 1822 in Peradeniya, was promoted as a draughtsman. From 1823, he produced a splendid series of drawings of the country’s flora and the plants cultivated in the Gardens. Moon died in 1825, but Haramanis continued illustrating plant species until his retirement in 1861, aged 70. Many of his drawings were done in the field, exploring verdant jungles, almost all in colour.
This tradition was continued up to 1900 by Haramanis’s sons, William and George. Appointed Director of the Gardens in 1849, George Henry Kendrick Thwaites supervised and added many detailed floral drawings made by dissecting flowers, to the original collection. William de Alwis Seneviratne’s son also made more than 1000 colour illustrations of Sri Lankan fungi, including mushrooms. The originals of these drawings – 412 paintings, mainly drawn by William de Alwis (1842-1916), are at the Horticulture Research and Development Institute (HORDI) of the Department of Agriculture, Gannoruwa, with duplicates at the Kew Herbarium in England. The formidable collection made by Haramanis de Alwis Seneviratne and his sons consists of over 5000 colour illustrations and about 2000 pencil sketches housed at the National Herbarium.
Growth of the Gardens and Herbarium
James Macrae, who arrived two years after the death of Moon but passed away in 1830, was a notable contributor of botanical specimens to the Herbarium. The visit of Robert Wight in 1836 from India saw scientific identification of herbarium specimens as the whole of the Peradeniya herbarium was packed and sent to Wight (its size at the time would not have been great).
Macrae was followed by George Gardner the first botanist as distinct from horticulturist in charge of Peradeniya who aslo assiduously collected botanical specimens.
The growth of the Herbarium became George Henry Kendrick Thwaites’ monumental work. An efficient scientist, he developed the process of consultation with Europe, especially the Kew and notably with Sir Joseph Hooker by sending possibly duplicates of specimens for identification. Thwaites’ Enumeratio Plantarum Zeylaniae (1858) was founded on scientifically advanced concepts. Many novel genera and species were discovered, described and added to the flora of the island consisting of a total of 2822 species.
Henry Trimen, Director from 1880 – 1896, added a reasonable collection to the Herbarium, but his most prominent contribution was The Handbook to the Flora of Ceylon (1893-1900) – one of the most comprehensive and outstanding publications in any comparable tropical area at that time. Trimen had completed only three volumes at his death in 1896 and the last two volumes were completed by J.D. Hooker. John Christopher Willis succeeded Trimen as Director in 1896 establishing the Department of Agriculture in 1912.
Among those adding specimens to the Herbarium were J. Miguel Silva, a plant collector under Trimen for 20 years even after Trimen’s death in 1896. A special addition to taxonomic literature in the early 20th century was the publication in 1931 by A.H.G. Alston (Systematic Botanist, Department of Agriculture) which served as a Supplement (Volume 5) to Trimen’s Handbook to the Flora of Ceylon, updating the five previous volumes by Trimen, subsequently completed by J.D. Hooker.
T.B. Worthington’s private collection of specimens and photographs of many native and introduced tree species during 1940s to 1950s at his home (Hill Crest), Kandy was the basis for his book ‘Ceylon Trees’, a useful guide to the island’s tree flora.
Other noteworthy collections were made by K.D.L. Amaratunga, and D.M.A. Jayaweera who contributed on Orchidaceae and Apostasiaceae for the Revised Handbook to the Flora of Ceylon. The writer also made a significant contribution of specimens (nearly 11,000).
The largest addition in the 20th century (about 60,000 specimens) was gathered by scientists (64 authors from 27 different institutions across the world including Sri Lanka, collaborating with the Flora of Ceylon Project initiated in 1968 under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, the Department of Agriculture and the University of Peradeniya and continued in 1990s by the British Overseas Development Administration. The final outcome was the publication of the Revised Handbook to the Flora of Ceylon, 15 Volumes published between 1980 and 2006, accommodating flowering plants, ferns and fern allies.