2025-11-07 Fri

The last stamp in the series issued by India Post on 11 September 1997, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences (BSIP), features a depiction of the extinct plant Williamsonia sewardiana, with a face value of Rs. 10. The model is based on a reconstruction created by Professor Birbal Sahni and represents a plant that thrived around Rajmahal in Jharkhand approximately 140 million years ago.

As highlighted by G. Rajagopalan in the ‘Journal of the Geological Society of India (1997)’, Williamsonia sewardiana is a Mesozoic gymnosperm (naked-seed plants) belonging to the Williamsoniaceae family within the Bennettitales group. Professor Sahni's reconstruction presents the plant as resembling a miniature Cycas tree, characterized by a sparsely branched stem called Bucklandia Presl, along with features including the leaf (Ptilophyllum Morris), female flower (Williamsonia Carruthers), and the male flower (Weltrichia Braun), which was identified at a later stage. In her publication "Life and Time of Indian Williamsonia" (1992), Jayasri Banerji notes that this plant existed alongside a diverse and dynamic flora, encompassing a wide array of plant groups, from algae to gymnosperms.

For further information regarding previous stamps, please refer to

Science and Technology on Indian Postage Stamps-1

Science and Technology on Indian Postage Stamps-2

Science and Technology on Indian Postage Stamps-3

Fun Fact: It is noteworthy that this set of four stamps is the first and only series of postal stamps to depict fossil plants from India!