One sunny afternoon last week, I drove to the village of Madatugama in the North-Western Dry Zone of Sri Lanka to see the Island’s largest Ironwood forest and the biggest Rose Quartz deposit in all of Asia

Ironwood Mesua ferara is one of Sri Lanka’s native plants with bright red leaves and fragrant white flowers. The wood is hard and durable and was once used  in the construction of bridges. Ironwood was used in 1371 AD to build the intricately carved pillars of Embekka Temple in Kandy. Ironwood is called Na in Sinhalese – hence the forest is named Namal Uyana (Ironwood flower garden). The 260 acre forest was first planted by King Devanampiyathissa in the 8th century. Over the years it functioned as a prison camp and a sanctuary for Buddhist monks. In 1986, Na became the National Tree of Sri Lanka and the forest was declared a National Heritage…