Sri Lanka’s national flower is “ Manel”. This flower can see in deferent colours. But the correct National Flower is in sky blue colour. This flower is
another beauty which dominates the Sri Lankan waters. This flower grows in the
shallow water. Most people calls this as blue water lily. This blooms from the
dawn till evening. The colour of the flower is blue and occasionally pinkish
and purple. For villagers stem and seeds are a curry for
their daily meal.
The
other flower is “OLu” . Its in white colour. This blooms in
around 10-11 the night and fades away by
11.00 a.m. in the morning, it emanates a sweet fragrance. In the
middle of the flower the seeds are collected by villages and they boil them as
rice. There is medicinal value in this flower. The boiled seeds are very
cooling to the body.
The
next beauty in Sri Lankan waters are 'kumudu” These flowers petal out in the nights with a
sweet smell. It is quite a dainty and a delicate pealed flower and you do not
find these flowers any where in the
world. Unlike the other water flowers, these pop out in one or two in numbers
at a time, but the sweet scent emanates distant far.
The botanical name ’Aponogeton
Crispum’ , in Sinhala words
“Kekatiya” is an
another beauty of the Sri Lankan waters. This flower depicts a style of an
old man’s walking stick. It has a long stem about one feet, and about 6” covers
with tiny yellow coloured flowers as a rod. These creeps on top of all the
water flowers as it is taller than the rest. These are grown in large bushes in
the water. It is a tasty curry dish with rice and very cooling to the body.