හොර - Hora in Sinhalese and සරල - Sarala

About

Dipterocarpus zeylanicus, commonly known as හොර - Hora in Sinhalese and සරල - Sarala or කිරිපලු - Kiripalu, is a species of Dipterocarpus that is endemic to Sri Lanka. A closely related Indian species is Dipterocarpus turbinatus. The Sri Lankan tree is a large tree that grows up to 40–45 m (131–148 ft) tall and 4–6 m (13–20 ft) in circumference. The bark is light pinkish brown or light yellowish brown. Leaves are big and oval, 5 to 8 inches long. The sharp-edged leaves are covered with silver hairs. Flowers bloom in April and seeds have two wings to spread from wind. The bark contains considerable amounts of gray colour oleoresin. D. zeylanicus can be found in moist low country like Ratnapura, Kaluthara, Galle and Matara Districts and also in the Sinharaja rain forest. The tallest trees of Hora in Sri Lanka are found in Udakiruwa village in Lunugala and under great threat of legal/illegal felling. There are many place names which begin with the name of the Hora tree. Even Tamil place names like Norochcholai is said to refer to a clump of Hora trees - i.e., "Horagolla" in Sinhalese.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA