Over centuries, Bangalore’s Lalbagh has been the site of various political ambitions and agendas. Originally part of Tipu Sultan’s project to build a house of exotic plant species, it was later turned into a colonial garden and today houses an agri-horticultural laboratory. This essay focuses on a set of botanical illustrations that were made by Cheluviah Raju under Superintendent John Cameron between 1884 and 1923 to highlight the garden’s collection. These reveal early attempts in the region to study nature and natural history through a modernist lens.