South Africa’s botanical history is not widely known and the purpose of this article is to draw attention to some of the significant developments around the foundation of a number of the important state botanical institutions in the first half of the twentieth century. Against the background context of colonial and, later, provincial politics and rivalries, as well as the unification of South Africa in 1910, the tensions around the early years of the National Botanic Garden at Kirstenbosch (1913), the National Herbarium in Pretoria (1923) and the Botanical Survey (1918) are explored. The principal results include unravelling some of the dynamics among the botanical community in South Africa, particularly where Illtyd Buller Pole Evans was involved. Drawing on sources from manuscript material housed in the Archives of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and in the National Archives of South Africa, Tshwane, together with botanical publications in the SANBI Mary Gunn Library in Tshwane, the major conclusions relate to elucidating the evolutionary path of South Africa’s botanical institutions.
