India 1997 "Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow"

Issue Date	01.09.1997
ID	Michel: 1568-1571; Scott: 1622-1625; Stanley Gibbons: 1732-1735; Yvert et Tellier: 1338-1341; Category: pF
Design	Uttar Pradesh
Stamps in set	4
Value	2 - Birbalsahnia divyadarshanii 2 - Glossopteris 6 - Pentoxylon 10 - Williamsonia sewardiana
Emission/Type	commemorative
Places of issue
Size (width x height)	29mm x 39.1mm
Layout	Sheets of 35 stamps
Products	FDC x 1
Paper	Gravured coated stamp paper
Perforation	13,25 x 13,50
Print Technique	Photogravure
Printed by	Security Printing Press, Nashik
Quantity	400.000
Issuing Authority	Indian Post

On September 11^th, 1997, the Post Department of Advertising and Visual Publicity Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of Government of India, issued the set "Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany, Lucknow". The stamps set was issued on the occasion of 50^th anniversary of the Institute. Two stamps of the set show fossils and another two reconstructions of some prehistoric plants. The cachet of the FDC show the building of the Institute and portrait of its founder - Professor Birbal Sahni.

Palaeobotany is the study of plant fossils preserved in rocks. The word "Fossil" has been defined as "any evidence of prehistoric life". Plant fossils were formed by burial and preservation in the sediments in the geological past. During transport to the site of burial the plant parts underwent decomposition and deformation to varying degrees. The environment of the depositional site controls the preservation of these plant remains. Research in the science of palaeobotany deals with both large and miniature plant fossils as they help to deduce the antiquity, radiation and evolutionary pattern of life on earth, the vegetation which was responsible for coal/oil reserves on earth, environment and climate of the past and correlation of sedimentary sequences.

Professor Birbal Sahni on the cachet of the First Day Cover (FDC) of India 1997

Logo of The Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences

German scholar Albertus Magnus on stamp of Germany (BRD/FRG) from 1980, MiNr.: 1049, Scott: 1328.

The first mention of a fossil plant was made by the German scholar Albertus Magnus in the thirteenth century. In India, the first fossil plant was recorded in the latter part of the eighteenth century, although detailed studies were carried out only in the later half of the nineteenth century, almost entirely at the Geological Survey of India in Calcutta.

Professor Birbal Sahni (1891 – 1949) was the first Indian to revitalize study of Indian fossil plants.
He was a visionary in that he saw the potential of palaeobotanical research in India in understanding plant evolution through the ages and application of this knowledge for human welfare.
His major contributions were in the study of the fossil plants of India and in plant evolution.
In 1921 he was appointed the first Professor and Head of the Botany Department of the Lucknow University, a position he retained until his death.
Based on the ecology of plants and the altitude of the fossil finds, he attempted to estimate rates of uplift of the Himalayas. It was through Prof. Sahni's efforts and zeal that the Institute of Palaeobotany in Lucknow was founded in September 1946. The Institute functions as an autonomous research organization under the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, to develop scientific knowledge and expertise in all branches of palaeobotany and related disciplines.
The initial office of the Institute was at the Department of Botany, Lucknow University. Later on, it moved to its own building in Lucknow and was renamed to the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences (BSIP).
The goal of BSIP is solving issues of origin and evolution of plant life, other geological issues including exploration of fossil fuels. Originally plant fossil and related studies based, the mandate of the BSIP was recently expanded to combine it with other areas of palaeosciences, and creating modern facilities to achieve this end.




Some fossils and reconstruction of prehistoric plants from the collection of the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences formerly Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany. are shown on the following stamps.

Reconstruction of Pentoxylon on stamp of India 1997, MiNr.: 1570, Scott: 1624.

Reconstruction of Williamsonia sewardiana on stamp of India 1997 MiNr.: 1571, Scott: 1625.

Pentoxylon - an important discovery of Prof. Birbal Sahni is the extinct plant group named Pentoxylae from Nipania in Dumka district, Rajmahal Hills,Bihar (age 110-114 million years). Reconstruction of plant with leaves, stem, flowers.
Pentoxylon takes its name from the five wedges of wood that characterize its stem. Pentoxylon is a Gondwanan taxon, which has been found in India, Australia and New Zealand. Pentoxylon first appears in the later part of the Paleozoic, but its greatest diversity and abundance appears to be in the Jurassic, continuing into the Early Cretaceous.

Williamsonia sewardiana - extinct genus of plant belonging to the Bennettitales, an order of seed plants which bore a resemblance to cycads.
A model of the extinct plant Williamsonia sewardiana which thrived in Rajmahal, Bihar about 140 million years ago. This model is based on the reconstruction envisaged by Prof. Birbal Sahni. Originally described as Zamia gigas by William Crawford Williamson. William Carruthers proposed the name Williamsonia in an 1870 paper of his, with the type species being Williamsonia sewardiana.
Fossils of specimens of Williamsonia have been discovered worldwide.

Fossil of Birbalsahnia divyadarshanii on stamp of India 1997, MiNr.: 1568, Scott: 1622.

Fossil of Glossopteris on stamp of India 1997, MiNr.: 1569, Scott: 1623.

Birbalsahnia divyadarshanii - fossil of an enigmatic flower-like organ of the extinct plant named after eminent Indian Palaeobotanists - Prof. Birbal Sahni and Prof. Divya Darshan Pant, discovered from Hura Coalfield, Santhal Pargana, Bihar (age 250-280 million years).

Glossopteris- the tongue-shaped leaf Glossopteris, represents a unique group of extinct vascular plants (age: Permian, 250-280 million years). During this period India occupied a position south of equator close to South Pole as a part of a very large continent which included South America, Antarctica, Africa and Australia, called Gondwana. This vegetation was responsible for the precious coal reserves in peninsular India.

Products and associated philatelic items

FDC	Example of circulated covers
The reverse side is here	The cover sent to Germany from Lucknow city in 2013

References

• Technical details and official press release:
  Brochure of Indian Post, Colnect, India Picks.
• Palaeobotany:
  Wikipedia, Encyclopedia Britannica,
• Birbal Sahni:
  Wikipedia, International Organisation of Paleobotany,
• The institute:
  official website, Wikipedia,
• Williamsonia:
  Wikipedia,

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Dr. Peter Voice from Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Western Michigan University, for reviewing the draft page and his valuable comments.