Sri Lanka dry-zone dry evergreen forests

Ecoregion in Sri Lanka

The Sri Lanka dry zone dry evergreen forests are a tropical dry broadleaf forest ecoregion of the island of Sri Lanka.

The ecoregion covers an area of , about 75%, of the island of Sri Lanka, with the exception of the islands' southwestern corner and Central Highlands, home to the Sri Lanka lowland rain forests and Sri Lanka montane rain forests ecoregions, respectively, and the northern Jaffna Peninsula, which is part of the Deccan thorn scrub forests ecoregion. The topography is generally low, and the landscape is dotted with isolated inselbergs. The highest of these inselbergs is Ritigala (766 meters), which lies north of the Central Highlands.

The ecoregion receives 1500–2000 mm of rainfall annually. Most rain falls during the December to March northeast monsoon season, and it is mostly dry the rest of the year.

The ecoregion has several plant communities. Mixed dry evergreen forest is the most widespread plant community. Manilkara hexandra, Chloroxylon swietenia, and Drypetes sepiaria are characteristic trees, with Diospyros ebenum, Feronia limonia, Vitex altissima, Syzygium spp., and Chukrasia tabularis. In mature forests, the trees form a canopy of 13–20 meters, with sub canopy and shrub layers. In areas of scrub and regenerating forest, Bauhinia racemosa, Pterospermum suberifolium, Cassia fistula, and Dichrostachys cinerea are typical. Acacia thorn scrub grows in disturbed areas. Talawa is a submontane savanna and grassland plant community, located on the eastern and southeastern slopes of the Central Highlands. Characteristic trees are Terminalia chebula, Terminalia bellirica, Pterocarpus marsupium, Butea monosperma, Careya arborea, and Anogeissus latifolia, and the characteristic shrubs Phyllanthus emblica and Zizyphus spp. Tall perennial grasses are the predominant ground vegetation, chiefly Cymbopogon nardus and Imperata cylindrica. Villu is a lowland grassland plant community of northeastern Sri Lanka's river floodplains. The dominant grasses are species of Cymbopogon, Eragrostis, Themeda, and Imperata. unique short stature forests grow in the highest elevations of Ritigala, and are home to several endemic species. recently discovered unique dry canal associated evergreen forest grow near the ancient canals of the Polonnaruwa kingdom, dominated by Vitex leucoxylon which represents half of the vegetation, and Terminalia arjuna, which is a common river forest tree, makes up only a fifth, but still holds the place as the second most common tree. other common vegetation in descending order are Margaritaria indicus, Tamilnadia uliginosa, Barringtonia acutangula and Hibiscus tiliaceus. The presence of savanna plants like Tamilnadia uliginosa and Antidesma ghaesembilla suggests origin of a now nonexistent savanna.