Newsletter of the Southern African Botanical Diversity - SANBI

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Regional Gardens: a history The establishment of National Botanical Gardens (NBGs) in South Africa goes back to 1913 when Kirstenbosch and the National Botanic Gardens were formed. The late Prof. Harold Pearson, the first Director of the National Botanic Gardens, once said that owing to geographic considerations it would be necessary to have at least ten National Botanic Gardens in South Africa, one in each of the main climatic regions, and that one (he suggested it be based on the Cape Peninsula) should be the administrative centre for them all. Ideally, national botanical gardens should be easily accessible to visitors and located in major urban areas, such as the Pretoria National Botanical Garden is. (Photo: Hans Heilgendorff.) The Karoo Desert National Botanical Garden was founded in 1921, and up until the 1950s, the National Botanic Gardens had only two gardens under its control, both in the Western Cape. Another garden in the Western Cape, the Harold Porter NBG, was founded in 1959. It was not until 1967 that the National Botanic Gardens of South Africa extended its activities outside the then Cape Province. The purpose of this programme of expansion was (a) to provide sites where eventually the entire South African flora could be cultivated, and (b) to make botanical gardens accessible to as many people in the country as possible. To provide the maximum contribution to science it was considered that the various botanical gardens would, as far as possible, be situated near large educational centres or near areas of dense population. The confluence of the perennial Nels and Crocodile Rivers is a spectacular sight that may be viewed from the Lowveld National Botanical Garden, Nelspruit. (Photo: Hans Heilgendorff.) The next gardens to be founded were the Drakensberg and Eastern Free State (officially opened on 18 May 1967), Free State (30 June 1967), Natal (12 November 1969), Lowveld (19 November 1969) and Walter Sisulu (11 March 1982) National Botanical Gardens. Unfortunately, because of a lack of local support and its remote situation, the Drakensberg and Eastern Free State Botanic Garden was handed back to the Harrismith Municipality in 1985. Water provides a tranquil atmosphere to visitors at the entrance to the Natal National Botanical Garden, Pietermaritzburg. (Photo: Hans Heilgendorff.) By 1954, when Prof. Brian Rycroft succeeded Prof. Harold Compton as Director of the National Botanic Gardens, only Kirstenbosch and the Karoo National Botanical Garden had been established. During his term as Director, Prof. Rycroft was responsible for establishing the following five National Botanical Gardens that still exist today, namely Harold Porter, Free State, Natal, Lowveld and the Walter Sisulu NBGs. The Pretoria National Botanical Garden, officially opened in 1958, was managed by the former Botanical Research Institute until amalgamation in 1989, when it was brought under the control of the newly formed National Botanical Institute (NBI). 6 SABONET News Vol. 9 No. 1 September 2004
Source of land Drakensberg and Eastern Free State NBG (closed as a national botanical garden): Harrismith (now part of the Thabo Mofutsanyane District Municipality) Municipality Free State NBG: Bloemfontein (now Mangaung) Municipality Harold Porter NBG: Bequeathed by Harold Nixon Porter; Betty’s Bay (now Overstrand) Municipality Karoo Desert NBG: Whitehill site: Land donated by Mr JD Logan; Worcester site: Worcester (now Breede Valley) Municipality & Mr CP Heatlie Kirstenbosch NBG: Government allocation The Karoo Desert National Botanical Garden was moved from its original position at Whitehill near Matjiesfontein to its current site (shown here) in Worcester in 1946. (Photo: Christopher Willis.) Lowveld NBG: Nelspruit (now Mbombela) Municipality & HL Hall and Sons Natal NBG: Pietermaritzburg (now Msunduzi) Municipality & Botanic Society of Natal Pretoria NBG: Department of Agriculture (now Tshwane Metro Municipality) Walter Sisulu NBG: Roodepoort (City of Johannesburg) & Krugersdorp (Mogale City) Municipalities; SA Nature Foundation Consideration of other regional gardens Although Prof. Rycroft was successful in establishing NBGs in each of the four provinces of South Africa (Cape Province, Orange Free State, Transvaal and Natal) at the time, he continued to explore the option of establishing other ‘regional gardens’. In the National Botanic Garden’s Annual Report of 1971/2, Prof. Rycroft indicated having had various discussions concerning new regional botanical gardens. These included the following: • Zululand Botanic Garden (at the mouth of the Umlalazi River) • Eastern Cape Botanic Garden (in the Baakens River Valley) • Northern Cape Botanic Garden (on the banks of the Vaal River at Riverton) • Vaal River Catchment Botanic Garden (Woody Island and surrounding islands in the Vaal River near Parys) • Highveld Botanic Garden (close to Krugersdorp; now the Walter Sisulu NBG) • Oudtshoorn Botanic Garden (created to house succulents from the Swartberg and Outeniqua Mountains). Mountain backdrop and varying topography in the Karoo Desert National Botanical Garden, Worcester. (Photo: Christopher Willis.) An artificially created waterfall in the Pretoria National Botanical Garden, funded by Pretoria Portland Cement and completed in October 1992, provides flowing water in a garden that does not have a perennial river flowing within its boundary. (Photo: Hans Heilgendorff.) SABONET News Vol. 9 No. 1 September 2004 7
Page 1 and 2: Newsletter of the Southern African
Page 3 and 4: letter from the editors EDITORS: YO
Page 5: Establishing National Botanical Gar
Page 9 and 10: years’ experience of the National
Page 11 and 12: Table 1. Summary statistics of Sout
Page 13 and 14: Karoo Gardens. Veld & Flora 77(3):
Page 15 and 16: The impact of years of post-colonia
Page 17 and 18: Over the past two years, SABONET ha
Page 19 and 20: B. kirkii C.B.Clarke = B. contexta
Page 21 and 22: C. indecorus Kunth var. namaquensis
Page 23 and 24: (= Scirpus setaceus L.) (= Scirpus
Page 25 and 26: R. corymbosa (L.) Britton var. cory
Page 27 and 28: Olukonda, Rautanen 2. Pycreus P.Bea
Page 29: Plant taxonomy in the 21 st Century

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