in Sri Lanka - Ministry of Environment

Out of 3,154 species evaluated 1,386 are threatened (critically endangered, endangeredor vulnerable). This is about 44% of the total angiosperm flora in Sri Lanka. Five speciesare believed to be extinct (Table 17). These extinct species are Strobilanthes caudata(Acanthaceae), Blumea angustifolia (Asteraceae), Crudia zeylanica (Fabaceae), Rinoreabengalensis and Rinorea decora (Violaceae). It is alarming to note that 177 species are in theIUCN Red List category of CR(PE) meaning that those species are possibly extinct.Alphonsea hortensis (Annonaceae) and Doona ovalifolia (Dipterocarpaceae) are believed tobe found only in cultivation at Botanic Gardens (extinct in the wild).Out of the 186 families evaluated, 81 families have 50% or more threatened species and in24 families all species are threatened. These 24 families are each represented by less than5 species and more than half of these families are represented by a single species. Only 45families have no threatened species.The distribution of the threatened species shows that the highest number of threatened speciesare found in the wet zone districts such as Kandy, Ratnapura, Nuwara Eliya, Badulla, Galleand Kalutara. These districts also house the largest diversity of angiosperm species (Table 3).Data show that in Ratnapura, Kandy, Kilinochchi, Galle, Nuwara Eliya Kalutara, Kegalle, andMatara districts over 60% of the endemic species are threatened.Table 3. Distribution of threatened plants in different Districts in Sri Lanka.DistrictTotal speciesNumber ofthreatened speciesNumber ofendemicspeciesThreatenedendemic speciesAmpara 477 94 39 17Anuradhapura 956 236 100 47Badulla 1129 421 246 145Batticaloa 474 85 24 12Colombo 652 174 111 53Galle 1050 411 385 252Gampaha 418 81 48 24Hambantota 885 178 65 24Jaffna 546 97 21 7Kalutara 902 361 338 213Kandy 1952 868 567 388Kegalle 699 281 275 167Kilinochchi 43 11 3 2Kurunegala 825 215 128 55Mannar 365 77 13 5Matale 1125 344 212 111Matara 667 261 276 165Monaragala 766 217 108 48Mullaitivu 86 22 7 3Nuwara Eliya 1261 596 400 260Polonnaruwa 645 127 52 21Puttalam 694 117 47 13Ratnapura 1539 739 570 397Trincomalee 594 101 29 8Vavuniya 218 41 9 5344