In 1986, Sri Lanka named a native blue water lily, known locally as nil manel, as its national flower, but a mistake in the official declaration meant an introduced species, violet in color and known ...
In the scrublands and home gardens of Sri Lanka, where fire-orange blooms dance in the tropical heat, a quiet revolution is taking place. The peacock flower (Caesalpinia pulcherrima), long admired for ...
The flower has developed a deep national importance, but what exactly it signifies depends on whom you ask. By Aatish Taseer Photographs by Alex Majoli IN ONE SWIFT movement, Asoka swung his machete ...