Xylotheque

Traditionally, xylotheque specimens were in the form of book-shaped volumes, each made of a particular kind of wood and holding samples of the different parts of the corresponding plant.

[1] In older xylotheques, the wooden volumes were typically made out of the same wood as the specimens inside and sometimes decorated with tree bark and associated lichens and mosses.

[3] Each volume housed seeds, flowers, twigs, and leaves from the corresponding tree or bush, along with a written description hidden in a small compartment set into the inner spine.

[13] Anna H. Lynch and Peter E. Gasson compiled Index Xylariorum 4.1 in 2010, and the International Association of Wood Anatomists updated the list in 2016 under the supervision of Frederic Lens.

[14] In addition to the link to the PDF of this document provided in the reference list of this article, Index Xylariorum 4.1 can also be accessed online as a database through the Global Timber Tracking Network website here.

For documenta 13 in 2012, American artist Mark Dion created a new hexagonal display chamber for the Schildbach Xylotheque at the Natural History Museum in Kassel, Germany.