会议名称：2023世界木材日研讨会暨第五届国际林联（IUFRO）林产品文化研究组讨论会
会议时间：2023年3月22日

报告嘉宾：Sangeeta Gupta
嘉宾简介：印度德拉敦森林研究所木材解剖学科教授/高级科学家

摘要：

Ancient civilization of India can be traced back to about 5000 years. The people of earlier civilization had good knowledge of wood as is evident from archaeological records, but that knowledge was not based on Wood Anatomy in its present sense. Written information on wood takes us back to Puranic literature which is about 2500 years old, where wood is mentioned as a part of a plant, and then there is no information on wood and its anatomy.

In 1858 first book was published on "Timber tree" by Dr. E. Balfour containing original observations on the superficial appearance of timbers followed by J.S. Gamble’s "Manual of Indian Timbers", in 1881. This book is the first systematic account of the macrostructure of the woods and contains information on properties and uses of 1450 species. Interestingly, the information on properties and uses in this book came from the locals reflecting upon the excellent knowledge of timber characteristics prevailing during that period.

It was during the World Wars that the wood science was recognized as a useful knowledge for conducting war efficiently as more than 600 articles made of wood were required towards its efficient utilization. This resulted in several publications by K.A. Chowdhury (1932-1956), especially for Defense and Railways. Today, In India, almost all the commercial woods have been worked out for their anatomy, properties, uses, durability etc., based on which Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has formulated 145 standards related to Timber.

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