The garden is the first national botanical garden established in 1929 in China. The original name was Botanical Garden Memorial Sun Yat-Sen, which was dedicated to the memory of Mr. Sun Yat-Sen, the pioneer of Chinese democratic revolution. In 1954, it was received and reconstructed by Eastern China Research Station, Institute of Plant Taxonomy, Academia Sinica and renamed as Nanjing Botanical Garden Mem. Sun Yat-Sen, Academia Sinica. By this time,the garden and the institute of botany have merged into a single whole. After 1970, the ownership of the garden belonged to Jiangsu Province. Under the dual leading of Jiangsu Province and Chinese Academy of Sciences, it has been renamed as Nanjing Botanical garden Mem. Sun Yat-Sen, Jiangsu Province and Chinese Academy of Sciences Since 1993.