From flowers to coffee and tea

By D.C. Ranatunga

The moment Peradeniya Royal Botanic Gardens is mentioned, we think of the lovely flower beds in full bloom, the Orchid House with a wide range of orchids, the Royal Palm Avenue, the ponds and the bamboo groves. One thing that has not attracted much attention is the role played by the Gardens in the early stages of plantation crops and the development of numerous varieties of spices.

The period of three decades from 1850 when T.H.K. Thwaites was the Superintendent of the Botanic Gardens saw the introduction and acclimatisation of plants being carried out with great interest. One time Director of the Gardens, D.T. Ekanayake points out that in addition to flower and timber trees among species introduced were rubber, cacao, cinchona, vanilla, fruits and vegetables. The cultivation of tea and spices like clove and nutmeg was also largely helped by the introduction of improved varieties through the Botanic Gardens.

By the mid-19th century, coffee was Sri Lanka’s main export crop, a product believed to have been introduced from Indonesia by the Dutch. In 1845 Peradeniya Botanic Garden had supplied seedlings of the Arabian variety to estates. Liberian coffee had been introduced from Jamaica in 1873. It was towards the end of the 1970s that coffee estates were ravaged by the deadly disease ‘Hemelleia vestarix’ affecting the export crop severely. A renowned mycologist, Harry Marshal was brought down from England to study the disease and find a remedy but the effort was unsuccessful. The industry totally collapsed and an alternate crop had to be found.

Thwaites took the initiative and established the Hakgala Garden in 1861and introduced cinchona. Seeds and plants were obtained from Peru and trials were conducted at a nursery at Hakgala. The experiments being successful, over a million (1,224,000) plants were distributed resulting in having a lucrative industry in cinchona. Keen competition from India and Indonesia made cinchona and unproductive industry and soon gave way to tea.

Tea, in fact, had an earlier beginning when it was tried out at the Kalutara garden in 1828. Eleven years later, in 1839, seeds of newly-discovered Assam Tea had been obtained from the Calcutta Botanic Gardens to Peradeniya. In 1867 planting material had been got down from Assam and the hybrid variety was distributed from Hakgala Gardens in 1870. Two years later tea from the Loolecondera Estate which had obtained planting material from Peradeniya had tea ready for sale.

The rubber industry has its beginnings in 1876 when plants were got down from Kew Gardens in London. The seeds of para rubber, ‘Hevea brasilliensis’ had been originally obtained by Kew from Brazil. 70,000 seeds were brought to Kew from Tapaios plateau of which 7,000 seedlings were raised. Of these 1,919 plants were sent to Sri Lanka which found their home at Henaratgoda (Gampaha) Gardens. These were looked after and distributed to estates. A significant feature was that countries in South East Asia too got the plants from this lot. A few of the original trees can still be seen at the Henaratgoda Gardens.

Although cacao plants had been introduced as early as 1834 from Trinidad, it was only is 1880 that Twaites had encouraged extended cultivation after introducing a consignment of high quality varieties, also from Trinidad. 

Apart from these, Botanic Gardens had rendered valuable service in reintroducing nutmeg in 1804, and introducing camphor in 1852, vanilla in 1853 followed by a large number of valuable trees including sandalwood (1869), mahogany (1888), Albizzia moluccana (1880) and dapdap ‘Erythrina lithosperma’ (1882). In addition fruit trees were also introduced – durian from Malaysia around 1850 and cherimoya in 1882.

Thus, apart from botany and the acclimatisation of plants, the Botanic Gardens were also involved in agriculture until the Department of Agriculture was established in 1912. Botanic Gardens became a division of the Department.

Another energetic director, Dr. H. Trimen took over in 1880 and opened branch gardens at Badulla and Anuradhapura and started the publication of ‘The Flora of Ceylon’, a work that was competed by Sir Joseph D. Hooker, following the death of Dr. Trimen in 1896. Yet another era of progress had started with Dr. J.C. Willis taking over as director in 1896. 

“Besides the general extension and organisation, an excellent laboratory for scientific research and furnished with modern equipment has lately been built in the Gardens, with smaller accessory laboratories at the Experimental Station and at Hakgala and Heneratgoda Gardens,” states curator H.F. Macmillan in ‘Illustrated Guide – Royal Botanic Gardens’ (1906). Macmillan (1895-1925) had also published ‘Handbook of Tropical Planting and Gardening’, a comprehensive book which had gone into several editions and reprints. 

The intervention of World War II saw the Peradeniya Gardens being turned into a military camp with the setting up of the headquarters of the South East Asia Command (SEAC) of the Allied Forces under Lord Louis Mountbatten, Supreme Allied Commander. Only a portion of the Gardens was open to visitors during that time. In the years following the end of the war buildings used for military purposes were demolished except the operations and map room of the Allied Commander. It was retained and is being used as the Education Centre.

The first Sri Lankan to become the Superintendent of Botanic Gardens was D.M.A. Jayaweera in 1945. He served until 1971 and was succeeded by D.T. Ekanayake (1972-83) and D.B. Sumitrhaarahchi (1983-98). During the tenure of Dr. D.S.A. Wijesundera, in 2006 the Department of National Botanic Gardens was established and he was appointed Director-General.  

Work on the establishment of a new botanic gardens at Mirijjawila (near Hambantota) was started in 2006, the first botanic gardens initiated after independence. The 300-acre garden was to be the largest in Sri Lanka specialising in the conservation of dry and arid zone plants. Another Botanic garden was initiated at Ilukowita, Avissawella for the ex-situ conservation of wet zone flora.