[4] The species Widdringtonia nodiflora is common in South Africa and Zimbabwe in its dwarf form which has little more stature that a scrubby bush.

Most commonly it occurs as small woodlands amongst rolling tussocky grassland slopes, between craggy, granite, rock faces.

Its major qualities are that it works well and is extremely durable, being resistant to attacks from termites, wood boring insects and fungi.

For these reasons the timber achieved major economic significance during the first three decades of the 20th century, when it was high in demand for developing work.

Currently the timber is most used in the making of local arts and crafts, fishing boats for Lake Malawi, as well as in the construction and decoration of many prestigious buildings.

Each year at the beginning of the dry season hundreds of kilometers of firebreaks are hoed clean of vegetation to provide barriers which will impede the advance of fires.

In addition early controlled burning is carried out to reduce the buildup of combustible material which could otherwise cause very intense and damaging fires later in the dry season.

If the conservation work is not continued, the noble Mulanje cedar, Malawi's National Tree, will probably become extinctin natural stands in less than 10 years.