Trizygia speciosa, Royle

     It is a fossil plant excavated from searsote colliery, Raniganj coalfield in West Bengal, belonging to the late-Permian period.

Betula utilis
Bhujpattra

      It is a paper made from the tree 'Betula utilis', belonging to the family 'Betulaceae'. It was used by Kashmiris and Indians who got it from Kashmir. This material was in vogue till the invention of palm-leaf and paper. The plant bark is papery and ancient manuscripts were written on the sheets of this bark. Infusion of the bark is aromatic and antiseptic, used as a carminative. Betulin; containing bark shows antifertility activity. The bark is used also for covering hookah pipes and packing and roofing. It was donated by a Subaedar Ramachandran from Kashmir and is kept as reserve collection.

Betula utilis
Bhujpattra

     Betula utillis, moderate-sized, deciduous tree, found in the higher ranges of the Himalaya at an altitude of 14,000 feet, belongs to the family 'Betulaceae'. The bark of the tree is used as a substitute for paper by some of the hill tribes and has been used by Bhujraja, during the 17th century as writing material. Dr. Buhler, in his account of a tour in Kashmir in search of Sanskrit manuscripts says that the manuscripts were written on specially prepared thin sheets of the inner bark of the birch tree. The use of the birch-bark for literary purposes is attested by the earliest classical Sanskrit writers. Kalidasa mentions it in his dramas and epics; Susruta, Varahamihira know it like wise. Akbar introduced paper, and thus created an industry; from that time onwards the use of birch-bark for the purpose of writing was discontinued.

    The bark peels off in large sheets and is used for umbrellas, for writing upon, and for the flexible tubes, hookahs. Hindu pilgrims visiting the shrine of Amarnath in Kashmir divest themselves of their ordinary cloths before entering the shrine, covering their bodies with the Bhujpattra.

Teak Wood

     'Tectona grandis', commonly called 'Teakwood'. It belongs to the family 'Verbenanceae'. It is a large deciduous tree, indigenous to both peninsular India, in the eastern drier parts of Java, in Sumatra and in Burma. The plant wood is very durable, resistant to fungi used for poles, beams, trusses, planking, staircases and other constructional work. The teak is popular in marine constructional work and employed for sound-boards of musical instruments. The 500 years old cross section of the teak wood is exhibited in the Systematic Botany Gallery which was gifted by Raja of Travancore in the year 1880. It is a very rare object , which shows the 'Dendrochronology', of the tree.