Editing Birch (section)

===Paper===
{{See also|Birch bark document}}
[[File:Birch bark document 210.jpg|thumb|right|A birch bark inscription excavated from [[Novgorod]], circa 1240–1260]]

[[Wood pulp]] made from birch gives relatively long and slender fibres for a [[hardwood]]. The thin walls cause the fibre to collapse upon drying, giving a [[paper]] with low bulk and low opacity. The birch fibres are, however, easily fibrillated and give about 75% of the tensile strength of softwood.{{clarify|How is this relevant? Birch is a hardwood|date=November 2013}}<ref>{{cite book |title=The World of Market Pulp|last=Nanko|first=Hiroki|author2=Button, Alan |author3=Hillman, Dave |year= 2005|publisher=WOMP, LLC |location=US|isbn=0-615-13013-5|pages=192–195}}</ref> The low opacity makes it suitable for making [[glassine]].

In [[India]], the birch ([[Sanskrit]]: भुर्ज, ''bhurja'') holds great historical significance in the culture of [[North India]], where the thin bark coming off in winter was extensively used as writing paper. Birch paper (Sanskrit: भुर्ज पत्र, ''bhurja patra'') is exceptionally durable and was the material used for many ancient Indian texts.<ref name="Sanjukta Gupta-1972">Sanjukta Gupta, "Lakṣmī Tantra: A Pāñcarātra Text", Brill Archive, 1972, {{ISBN|90-04-03419-6}}. Snippet:''... the text recommends that the bark of the Himalayan birch tree (bhurja-patra) should be used for scribbling mantras ...''</ref><ref name="Ghosh-1990">Amalananda Ghosh, "An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology", BRILL, 1990, {{ISBN|90-04-09264-1}}. Snippet:''... Bhurja-patra, the inner bark on the birch tree grown in the Himalayan region, was a very common writing material ...''</ref> The [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] period [[Vindolanda tablets]] also use birch as a material on which to write and birch bark was used widely in ancient [[Russia]] as notepaper (''beresta'') and for decorative purposes and even making [[footwear]] (''lapti'') and baskets.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}