A shady 19th-century botanical garden where the first rubber trees in Asia were grown, laced with old trees and a lily-covered lake.

Overview

The Henarathgoda Botanical Garden spreads over some 14 hectares of towering tropical trees, bamboo groves, palm avenues and a lake dotted with water lilies, a peaceful green retreat just outside Gampaha town. Its greatest claim to fame is a small stand of the oldest rubber trees in Asia, grown here from seedlings that launched the rubber industry across the region. Quiet, uncrowded and rich in birdlife, it is one of the four national botanical gardens of Sri Lanka.

History

The garden was established in 1876 by the British to acclimatise economically useful plants, and in 1876-77 rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) seedlings raised at Kew Gardens in London were planted here. These trees founded the rubber plantations of Sri Lanka and, from their seed, much of South-East Asia's rubber industry, making Henarathgoda a landmark in the region's economic history.