The Royal Botanical Gardens in Peradeniya are the oldest formal gardens in Sri Lanka. It is located 460 meters above the mean sea level, or about 5 kilometers to the west of the city of Kandy in the Central Province of Sri Lanka. The Royal Botanic Gardens Peradeniya attracts approximately 2 million local and foreign visitors annually. The garden includes more than 4,000 species of plants, including orchids, spices, medicinal plants, and palmtrees and is renowned for its collection of orchids and the long, palm-framed pathways. It is managed by the Division of National Botanic Gardens of the Department of Agriculture, and the National Herbarium of Sri Lanka is attached to it as well. It encompasses a total area of 147 acres.
A small and neat orchid house built inside the Royal Botanical Gardens exhibits some of the best orchid species, and the entrance is decorated with beds of red Salvia coccinea and scarlet poinsettias, with the main Broad Walk being created with fine evergreen trees, underneath which there are beds of the pretty `Prickly Bush` and `Blue Sky` flora. The National Herbarium of Sri Lanka, the leading institute for the authentication of plants in Sri Lanka, is also located inside the Peradeniya Gardens.
