Don Carlin Gunawardena

Don Carlin Gunawardena (April 27, 1899 – September 15, 1979) was a Sri Lankan botanist, Emeritus Professor of Botany, and Head of the Department of Science at Vidyodaya University, Ceylon (later renamed as University of Sri Jayewardenepura). He was known for his etymological and historical accounts of Sri Lankan flora and fauna and other works on tropical taxonomy.

Career After a student career at St. Joseph's College, Colombo, Gunawardena served as a member of its staff between 1919 and 1924. During this time, he matriculated at Ceylon University College as one of its first undergraduates, where he read Latin, Greek, and botany to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1921.

In 1924, Major H. L. Reed MA (Cantab.) acquired Gunawardena for the ‘Remove C Form’ created for students wishing to read Botany at Royal College, Colombo in preparation for a career in medicine. and in the same was elected a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London.

Gunawardena returned to service at Royal College until promoted in the late 1930s to Assistant Director of Education stationed at Kandy. Upon return from London with his doctorate, Gunawardena was invited to join the then newly formed Vidyodaya University (later renamed as University of Sri Jayewardenepura) to head its Department of Botany; a post which he held until his death at the age of eighty.

Principal work Gunawardena's principal work was Genera et Species Plantarum Zeylaniae, a volume published in 1968 on the etymological and historical accounts of Sri Lankan flora and fauna. The work was an adaptation of the third chapter of his University of London doctoral thesis,