Henarathgoda Botanical Garden

Things To Do - Scenery, Photography, Environmental Study. In 1876 the first seedlings of Brazilian rubber tree ever planted in South Asia, grew and prospered in Henarathgoda Botanical Gardens.

The seeds smuggled out of the Brazilian Amazon by Sir Henry Wickham and nurtured at London’s Kew Gardens led to an economic boom in the region and revolutionised the world. Situated 30 km from Colombo and just five km from Gampaha The Henarathgoda Botanical Gardens is often overlooked for more celebrated botanical gardens in Peradeniya and Hakgala, yet is celebrated for its collection of tropical trees including the first flock of para rubber trees, the originals that sired the rubber industry throughout Southeast Asia in Malaya, Indonesia and South India as well as in Sri Lanka.