Amongst the many trees that I show visitors to Lalbagh, is one treasure that hasn’t grown there, but is a rare and precious thing nevertheless……the Tree of Stone!

Fossils are organisms that have “petrified”,that is, turned to rock. (The word “petra” in Latin means “rock” or “stone”…petra + oleum, “rock oil”, is petrol.)

Here’ the description of the Tree Fossil…

And here’s a close-up of the texure of the tree…pretty incredbile, isn’t it? As I remarked to one of my friends, 20 miillion years od….it’s nice to see well-preserved things that are a little older than I am!