Thursday, April 29, 2021

පොදු ගේ මීයා/Black Rat/Common House Rat (Rattus rattus)

 A very common large rat distributed throughout the island as five sub species. It inhabits areas near human habitation because of the availability of food from household wastes. But it is not uncommon in jungles and open country. It is an omnivorous and mainly feeds on grains and vegetable matters, but also eat meats, dried fish, etc. as well as eggs rob from nests of birds when available. Common House Rat is one of the most prolific mammal and normally a female which commences to breed when she is about 5 to 6 months of age, produces 4 to 5 families each year, each family numbering 3 or 4 young ones, but some time as many as 8. The nest is a collection of grass, straw, fibers, pieces of rags or paper or any other suitable materials gathered together and secreted in some convenient spot such as beneath a rock, log or the root of a tree or if in a building, in or behind a box or in some dark corner in the roof. It is a good climber as well as a swimmer. Common House Rat is usually a solitary mammal except during the breeding season, though sometime several of them can be seen in garbage dumps and such other places where its foods are abundant. It is normally active during the night though sometime can be observed even during the day time if it is undisturbed. 


Friday, April 16, 2021

Eurya ceylanica

 An endemic shrub common in the wet montane forests. Flowering and fruiting throughout the year. 


Flower size - 0.3-0.5 cm across

Wednesday, April 14, 2021

Adenostemma lavenia var. reticulatum [As Adenostemma macrophyllum]

Rather rare native herb grows in moist places in the hill country forests. Flowering throughout the year. 

Flower head size - 0.5 cm across 




Tuesday, April 13, 2021

හිස කළු කොණ්ඩයා/ශ්‍රී ලංකා කළු ඉසැසි කොණ්ඩයා (Pycnonotus melanicterus)

පහත රට ප්‍රදේශ වල සිට කඳුකරයේ මධ්‍යම ප්‍රදේශ දක්වා වනාන්තර, වෙනත් එවැනි  ගස් කොළන් බහුල ස්ථාන සහ ආශ්‍රීත ගෙවතු වල ස්ථානීය වශයෙන් සුලභ මෙරටට ආවේනික පක්ෂියෙකි.  නමුත් තෙත් කලාපයේ සහ වියලි කලාපීය ගංගා දෙපස පිහිටි වනාන්තර වල වඩාත් සුලභය. ජෝඩු වශයෙන් හෝ කුඩා රංචු වශයෙන් දිවිගෙවන හිස කළු කොණ්ඩයන් ප්‍රධාන වශයෙන් පළතුරු, කුඩා ගෙඩි ජාති මෙන්ම කෘමි සතුන්ද ආහාරයට ගනී. වසරේ මාර්තු සිට අප්‍රේල් දක්වා සහ නැවතත් අගෝස්තු සිට සැප්තැම්බර් දක්වා පඳුරු අතර හෝ කුඩා ගසක අතු පතර මනාව සැඟවුන ස්ථානයක කෝප්පයක හැඩය සහිත කූඩුවක් තනා අභිජනනයේ යෙදේ. 
English Post >>

Monday, April 12, 2021

Impatiens thwaitesii

An endemic slender herb of shady damp banks and riverside rocks in the sub montane forests from 350 to 900 m elevations. Rather rare.




 

Sunday, April 11, 2021

රබර්/Para Rubber(Hevea brasiliensis)

 
Native tree of South America, introduced to Sri Lanka in 1876 by the British colonial rulers. Since then widely cultivated in plantations for the the milky latex extracted from the tree. Which is the primary source of natural rubber. 

Friday, April 2, 2021

ආඩතෝඩ/අගල් ආධාර/පාවට්ටා/වන ඇපල[Adathoda/Agal adara/Pavatta/Wana epala]/Common Cough Cure/Malabar Nut(Justicia adhatoda)

 Common native shrub cultivated as a hedge plant and occasionally on borders of paddy fields in the low and mid country. Widely used in traditional and Ayurvedic medicine as a remedy to cough, asthma, phlegm and fever with several other plant elements.