Trimen's Handbook, published at the end of the last century, brought together all the available knowledge gathered from the taxonomic study of the flowering plants known by him and others to be present in Sri Lanka.

About 30 years after Trimen, in 1931, A.H.G. Alston published a supplementary volume containing additions and corrections to Trimen's original flora.

In 1959, Professor Abeywickrama compiled and published his "Checklist of the Flowering Plants of Ceylon", updating the names and systematic arrangement of the plants of Trimen's Handbook and Alston's revision, and adding names of plants either discovered in the meantime or introduced into the country.

Since Trimen's book was written, much new information had accumulated about the plants themselves, their position in systems of classification in the light of changing concepts regarding such matters, and their correct identity and name. Trimen's Flora was written according to the standards of his time. It was an outstanding contribution to tropical Botany, and one of the great floristic works of that time; from a more modern view points, however, the information provided by it was inadequate in some respects. Also, it was long out of print, and when a copy became available in the market, which happened rarely, it bore a price that was well beyond the reach of the ordinary Sri Lankan botanist.

So a revision of the entire flora became necessary. Professor Abeywickrama had hoped that he could do such a revision, but his multifarious duties at the university at that time prevented him from undertaking this task by himself.

In 1967 he suggested to Dr. F.R. Fosberg the idea of collaborating with the Smithsonian Institution in revising Trimen's Flora. Dr. Fosberg readily agreed and put forward to the Smithsonian Institution a proposal, which was accepted. This was for a joint project between the Smithsonian Institution, the University of Peradeniya and the Department of Agriculture. Funds were made available, and it was possible to start work in 1968. It was originally to be for 5 years, and was later extended in stages up to 1979.

The work of revision was done by specialists in the various families represented in our flora, nearly all of whom visited this country for field study in all parts of the country and in the Herbarium at Peradeniya.

Smithsonian funding of the project came to an end in 1979. The printing of the volumes of the revised flora by AMERIND in India began in 1980 and is continuing, the 11th volume having been completed this year.

At the end of the Smithsonian supported project, about 70 families of flowering plants still remained to be studied, and neither the funds for their revision nor the required expertise was available in Sri Lanka. Then in 1990, in response to an appeal by the Natural Resources, Energy and Science Authority, NARESA, the British Overseas Development Administration (ODA) agreed to support the completion of the project. The work was to be coordinated in Sri Lanka by NARESA. The revisions were done mostly by scientists of the Kew Herbarium in England, their activities coordinated by Dr. W.D. Clayton. The General Editor, Prof. M.D. Dassanayake coordinated the Sri Lankan counterpart. The work is nearing completion now, and the printing of the Revised Flora is expected to be completed with the 13th Volume. ODA has agreed to support the revision also of the families of Sri Lankan Ferns; the project is extended by another year to accommodate this part, and a 14th Volume will be added to the revised flora.

A very important function of both the Smithsonian supported and the ODA supported Flora Projects has been to give Sri Lankan botanists, especially students, the opportunity to acquire a competence in Taxonomic studies by actually working with the experts in the Herbarium and the field.

They had the invaluable experience of working with some of the most outstanding experts of our time in this field. The Smithsonian Project left behind a group of well trained plant scientists who are now pursuing useful careers in Taxonomy or related fields here and in other countries.

In the course of their herbarium work these botanists annotated the specimens in the National Herbarium at Peradeniya with their corrected, up-to-date names. This increased the value and usefulness of the specimens to others and to future users. The project also added about 40,000 new specimens of Sri Lankan plants collected in the course of its work to the National Herbarium.

The field work involved in the revision of the flora helped to draw attention to the wealth and diversity of our plant resources and also to the degradation of the natural vegetation and the resulting disappearance or increasing rarity of some species. Some species that Trimen reported as common in his day are now rare; some have not been relocated at all or have been relocated only after much search.

The volumes of the revised Flora have provided ecologists, students of wild life and conservationists with new information regarding the identify of Sri Lankan plant Species, and their distribution within this country and in neighbouring countries.

Revision of Trimen's Flora has revived and stimulated interest and activity in plant Taxonomy in the country. In Trimen's days as also in the days of his predecessor Thwaites and Willis who succeeded him, Peradeniya was internationally recognized as a flourishing centre for scientific study.

It is not by any means claimed that the revised flora now being produced is in any sense a final one. The publication of volume 14 is not the end of floristic study in this country. The study of a county's plant life is a continually advancing and never ending process, as Trimen has said in the introduction to his book. In fact, in the light of knowledge that has accumulated in recent years, many parts of our earlier revised volumes are already in need of revision. What our revision is doing is to bring together existing information gained from the taxonomic study of our flowering plants to form an up-to-date knowledge base. It is now left to others to further investigate groups, large or small, that interest them and so build on this base and advance our knowledge of our plant life and plant resources. To carry on this work we need a continuing organization, like the Botanical Survey of India, housed at the National Herbarium preferably.

Trimen's Flora deals only with the flowering plants of Sri Lanka, and so does the revision, apart from the ferns which are being revised now. There are other groups, the liverworts and mosses, fungi, algae and lichens, which have never been studied to the same depth. Among these may be species that will one day prove to be very valuable natural resources. It is to be hoped that means will be found to look into these groups as well, and so produce a complete Flora of the country. Therfore we are looking forward to have funds and interesting institutions to work collaboratively to complete the study of Sri Lankan Flora.

Only a limited number of free copies of the Revised Flora available for the local and foreign contributors of this project.

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