The National Botanical Institute SA, based at Kirstenbosch in Cape Town, is the custodian of the nine National Botanical Gardens (NBG's) spread throughout South Africa. The NBG's are: The Free State NBG in Bloemfontein; The Witwatersrand NBG in Johannesburg; The Pretoria NBG in Pretoria; The Lowveld NBG in Nelspruit; The Natal NBG in Pietermaritzburg; The Karoo Desert NBG in Worcester; The Harold Porter NBG in Betty's Bay and the flagship Kirstenbosch NBG in Cape Town.

"The mission of the NBI is to promote the sustainable use, conservation, appreciation and enjoyment of the exceptionally rich plant life of South Africa, for the benefit of all people."

"The National Botanical Institute (NBI) is an autonomous, statutory organisation formed by the amalgamation of the National Botanic Gardens and the Botanical Research Institute in 1989. Both these organisations were founded early in the twentieth century to conserve and study the exceptionally rich southern African flora and both were world-renowned for their endeavours in this field. This rich legacy has now passed to the NBI. With its head office at Kirstenbosch in Cape Town, the Institute has gardens and research centres throughout South Africa. It runs environmental education programmes and maintains databases and libraries specialising in information on the plant life of southern Africa."

(source: adapted and quoted from the NBI SA website, see link below)