The Royal Botanic Gardens in Peradeniya (just west of Kandy) are nothing short of spectacular.
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| Our first stop was the Orchid House. |
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| Royal Palm Avenue is the iconic view of the Gardens. These palms are over 60 years old -- very old for Royal Palms. |
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| This bamboo was about 3 inches in diameter. The color in the photo above is accurate. |
Odd trees
The Botanic Gardens were filled with lots of unusual tropical trees from around the world. |
| This tree had no common name on its info plaque. The Latin name is Cavanillesia platanifolia. Even Wikipedia has almost no information about the species. It is found in Central America, and is one of the strangest looking trees I've ever seen. |
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| A closer look at the base of the tree. It almost looks like it's standing on bird feet. |
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| The Cannonball tree (Couroupita guianensis) |
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| A closer look at the "cannonballs". |
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| The flower of the Cannonball Tree is also strange looking. It almost looks like a sea anemone. |
Gnarly Trees
With trees as old as the ones in the Botanic Gardens, there's bound to be a lot of "gnarlies". |
| Java Fig -- gnarly! |
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| There was no name on this tree but it has a wonderful shape. |
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| The face in the tree. Lon thinks it looks like a tree gnome. I think it looks more like an elephant, |
Beyond trees
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| A tree filled with fruit bats. These large bats are active at dusk and dawn. |
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| A closer look at the bats. |
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| Our tour group. |
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