Rubber production in Sri Lanka commenced in 1876, with the planting of 1,919 rubber seedlings at the Henarathgoda Botanical Gardens in Gampaha. The total extent under rubber in 1890 was around 50 ha (120 acres) and in the early 1900s it increased to around 10,000 ha (25,000 acres).

Popularly known as ‘Queen of Spices’ as opposed to Black Pepper hailed as ‘King of Spice’, Cardamom, sometimes spelt as cardamon or cardamum, is a spice made from the seeds of several plants in the genera Elettaria and Amomum in the family Zingiberaceae. Both genera are native to the Indian subcontinent and Indonesia. The cardamom plant is a perennial herbaceous plant with a pseudostem and thick irregular shaped rhizomes. Dried fruit or cardamom pod is traded as a spice.

The durian originated in Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia and has been known to the Western world for about 600 years. Widely known and revered in Southeast Asia as the “king of fruits”, the durian is distinctive for its large size, unique odour and formidable thorn-covered husk. The Portuguese introduced to Durian to Sri Lanka in the 16th century and was reintroduced several years later. Many new types were also introduced later. In late 1800, Southeast Asian countries that were first familiarized with the plant started to grow it commercially in 20th century. Thailand is one of the main countries that export durian to the international market. It is now being grown on small scale in other regions such as Australia, Hawaii and Brazil.

Pineapple is a tropical plant with an edible fruit and the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae. Pineapples may be cultivated from the offset produced at the top of the fruit, possibly flowering in five to ten months and fruiting in the following six months. Pineapples do not ripen significantly after harvest.