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Dendrology, from the Ancient Greek δένδρον meaning "tree" and λόγος meaning "study", is the science of trees, and more generally the study of woody plants. Woody plants may betrees, shrubs, and lianas.

There is no sharp boundary between plant taxonomy and dendrology. However, woody plants do not only belong to many different plant families, but these families may be made up of both woody and non-woody members. Some families include only a few woody species. This severely limits the usefulness of a strictly dendrological approach. Dendrology tends to focus on economically useful woody plants, their identification and horticultural or silvicultural properties.

Dendrology is the study of woody plants. These includes trees: erect woody plants usually with one central trunk; shrubs: erect plants with numerous woody stems; andvines: woody plants that require an erect substrate for support. These catagories are not mutually exclusive, but all three growth forms are included in the study of Dendrology. This page is designed to facilitate access to our library of images for students, educators and interested citizens. While this resource was developed specifically for use in our dendrology course (botany 402) others are welcome to use these images. Conditions for this use are given by following this link.

Given the nature of the study of dendrology, there is considerable overlap with the study of taxonomy. Indeed, dendrology is a the study of a subset of plants from many different phylogenies. Hence, there exist other woody plant images in our "Plant Systematics" collection. Individual pictures of the Systematics collection are organized in directories reflecting taxonomic relationships. These directories can be accessed through this link.

Images from our dendrology collection can be accessed by either common name or by genus by following the links below.

Credits: This collection was developed and organized largely through the efforts of a dedicated undergraduate, Darrin Kimbler. Darrin took the dendrology in 1996. We provided him with a camera, and access to equipment to digitize his photographs and he he did the rest. His efforts constitute a lasting legacy that will enhance the learning experience of students for decades to come.