Buddhist Clergy in Sri Lanka ordain tree to protect it from Highway Construction

Colombo (News 1st); A fully grown tree of the Sri Lankan Legume or Crudia zeylanica in Daraluwa was ordained by the Buddhist Clergy on Wednesday (10) morning, by the monks from the National Bhikku Front.

The tree was ordained in order to protect it from being destroyed for the construction of an expressway. [embed]https://youtu.be/b3M7jmWlqxo[/embed] A tree of the Sri Lankan Legume or Crudia zeylanica was saved in the nick of time on Sunday (07) following quick intervention by Gampaha Division Wildlife Officer Devani Jayathilaka. The Sri Lanka legume (Crudia zeylanica) was discovered and named a new species in 1868. Since then, however, there is no record of it even being seen, and it was eventually presumed to be extinct. The IUCN Red List of 2006 categorizes it as extinct, as does the National Red List of 2012, prepared by Sri Lanka’s ministry of environment. It was known only from the herbarium specimens collected more than a century ago, and drawings, since there were no photographs of a living plant until its rediscovery in 2019 by three young research scientists. The plant did not have a photograph of it till it was rediscovered; even Sri Lanka’s National Herbarium only had a sketch. Environmentalists have strongly opposed any move to relocate the tree. This species is deemed a protected species under the provisions of the Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance said environmentalist Jagath Gunawardena adding it is prohibited to destroy or cause harm to this tree.