(The cnservation of trees and forests is the salvation of the world)

The founder of the Society and the Foundation was Dr Fried von Breitenbach who felt that the general public should become more involved in the knowledge and conservation of our indigenous trees

In 1979, when the Dendrological Foundation was founded, the terms "Dendrology" and "Dendrologist" were fairly unknown in South Africa. And yet there was a need for the creation of a competent body which would serve the particular requirements of a dendrological community in Southern Africa. The Foundation was formed as an independent, non-profit, non-racial association aiming at promoting the knowledge of trees, in particular the indigenous ones, their protection and planting and the preservation of tree-dominated ecosystems by way of research, publications, courses etc.

A project which was accorded the highest priority was the standardisation of the common English and Afrikaans tree names, a project started by the Botanical Research Institute in 1966 in the form of a list at the end of their publication 66 Transvaal Trees.

Each tree species was allocated a number. No matter how often the botanical names might change in future, the numbers and common names would stay the same and thus help to eliminate confusion.

The next step was to standardise the ethnic names, a task which took many years of intensive study in co-operation with, amongst others, the Universities of KwaZulu-Natal, of the North and of Venda.

After the establishment of the Dendrological Foundation, a "Big Tree Register" was started with a view to keeping a record of the biggest trees of any species.

The Society also provides a Tree Identification Service for members who submit specimens for idetification.

In April 1979, the first Newsletter was issued in roneoed form. Five years later, the Newsletter was printed for the first time under the name of "Dendron" and has since been published on a more or less regular basis.

In 1981, the first issue of the Journal of Dendrology appeared. Whereas Dendron publishes articles of general interest, news concerning the activities of the branches, reports on outings and lists of books, greeting cards, outfitting items which the Society provides for its members, the Journal contains essays on all aspects of dendrology, ie., dendrobotany, dendro-ecology, dendropathology, ethnodendrology, arboriculture, silviculture, landscape architecture, tree and forest conservation, etc., lists of the standardised ethnic common names and, last not lest, the most recent additions to the register of "Big Trees".

Tree conservation cannot succeed without the active participation of the public at large: city dwellers as well as farmers. In order to preserve trees, people have to love and respect them, and in order to do so, they have to know their names, their specific functions and needs, where to plant a particular species, etc. That is why the Foundation started the Tree Knowledge Courses in the Pretoria/Johannesburg area where the 35 most common species were discussed in detail in the veld. Four such courses have already been offered. In 1996, the Society arranged for a more condensed course on fourteen of the most common Acacia species. As from last year, the Society offers Tree Knowledge Correspondence Courses adapted to ten different regions as well as the Acacia Course and the Combretum/Ficus Course.

1980 was the year when the Dendrological Society was formed. The aims of the Society are to admit as members all who want to acquire a deeper knowledge of our indigenous trees. Trees provide food for birds and animals, shade and shelter, they clean and moisten the air, are windbreakers and reduce noise levels, they prevent erosion and fertilise the soil.

The two most popular publications of the Dendrological Foundation are the National List of Indigenous Trees (1979) which is now in its third, revised edition, and the National List of Introduced Trees (1984), which is in its second, revised edition.

The first volume of the Tree Atlas of Southern Africa was published in 1992 and is to be followed by further 22 volumes, each comprising a certain number of species with a complete description of species, distribution, ecology, where protected, cultivation, origin of botanical and common names, as well as synonyms and common ethnic names; with maps, drawings and/or photos. The second volume up to Moraceae is currently under preparation.

The Tree Number Plates were first issued in 1981 with white numbers on green fibreglass plates for indigenous trees and black numbers on a yellow background for introduced trees. At a later stage, they were replaced by high-quality ABS-material with the national tree number, the botanical and the common names in Afrikaans and English. They are also available with an ethnic common name in place of Afrikaans.

After the founding in Pretoria of the very first branch of the Dendrological Society, branches sprang up all over the country, some highly active, some less so and some dormant. It was decided to name each branch after a tree species or a significant geographical feature. We have "Magalies" for Pretoria, "Umdoni" for Durban, "Celtis" for Pietermaritzburg, "Kameeldoring" for Potgietersrus, "Erythrina" for Pietersburg, "Atalaya" for Port Elizabeth, "Wolkberg" for Tzaneen, "Tafelberg" for Cape Town, "Manketti" for Ellisras, and so forth.

The Society is still growing and will hopefully continue to do so in years to come.