Root of an India Rubber Tree at Colombo, Ceylon

[Original caption] The tree grows to a height of 120 feet and has a large spreading head. A channel is in the bark with a cutlass for the mil to flow and is caught in gourds. The average yield is three pints of milk which is dried in hollow wooden trays. When sufficiently dry it is removed in strips and hung upon lines to harden. [end]

This postcard is from an original albumen photograph by the great photographer of Ceylon, Charles Scowen (1852-1948), who sold his stock to The Colombo Apothecaries in 1896. The original photograph is often mislabeled as being a tree in Assam when a more accurate title is "Roots Of Assam India Rubber Trees (Ficus Elastica) at Entrance to Peradeniya Gardens," which are just outside Kandy.