While native to Sumatra and Borneo, it is widely cultivated in many parts of Southeast Asia, including Singapore, for its betel leaves and also for use in the dyeing and tanning industry. When the British arrived in 1819, there were already about 20 gambier plantations in Singapore run by Chinese and Malay settlers for the China market. By the late 1840s, increased gambier prices led to a spate in opening up of new plantations, with some of the most extensive of which belonging to Seah Eu Chin.