Horticultural research in the National Botanical Institute of South Africa: past achievements and future directions

Southern Africa is blessed with the richest temperate flora in the world. Almost 10 % of all flowering plants occur here on about 2 % of the global land surface. This floral wealth includes almost half of all known succulents, over 1000 tree species, a wide range of important pasture grasses, and numerous other flowering plants, many of which have great worldwide horticultural potential. As part of its mandate, the National Botanical Institute (NBI) of South Africa develops living collections of indigenous plants in its eight National Botanical Gardens as a public resource. Programmes are conducted to ensure the maintenance of the quality of plant displays in the gardens, to study, cultivate and conserve threatened indigenous plants, and to facilitate selection and cultivation of improved horticultural strains. This article highlights some of the successes of the diverse and varied horticultural research programme of the NBI.