As part of ongoing building of a four-lane motorway, Sri Lankan authorities pulled down what was once thought to be the only known wild example of a type of legume in the world on Tuesday.
Reporters in Colombo were informed by Transport Minister Bandula Gunawardana that the cabinet had authorized the destruction of the tree.
First described in 1868 and last discovered in 1911, the Sri Lanka Legume (Crudia zeylanica) is a blooming tree whose pods are not known to be consumed by humans.
It was reported extinct in 2012, however a single tree was unexpectedly found close to Colombo in 2019.
However, the eight-meter (26-foot) tree was scheduled to be cut down in February 2021 to make way for a road, which infuriated environmentalists and the powerful Buddhist clergy of the nation because they had blessed the plant and given it spiritual protection.
Gunawardana said that a survey revealed the existence of 40 other trees belonging to the same family, but he did not specify where they were.
Gunawardana stated, “It is a crime to have delayed the construction by spreading a myth that this was the only tree of its kind.”
According to him, avoiding the tree would have increased the price of building the road by an additional 15 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($50 million).
