SummaryThe development of botany in the tropics falls into four periods: (i) the age of the pioneer botanical explorers, which extended into the 19th century, (ii) the age from then to the First World War in which the plant resources of the tropics were developed mainly by colonial governments, (iii) the period between the two World Wars when improved hygiene and transport opened up new possibilities for scientific work in tropical countries and (iv) the present period which began at the end of the Second World War, in which even greater facilities for botanical research in the tropics have been accompanied by a continually accelerating destruction of the tropical biota. The present is therefore the best moment there will ever be for studying tropical botany.