Santalum album L.

Santalum album L.

Know our Plant

Systematic Classification:

Division	: Angiospermae
Class		: Dicotyledons 
Family		: Santalaceae							
Genus		: Santalum
Species  	: album

Common Name:

Chandanam, Shrikhand

General Information:

Evergreen trees, to 10 m high, bark surface dark grey to nearly black, rough with short vertical cracks. Leaves simple, opposite, estipulate; petiole 12-18 mm long, slender, glabrous, grooved above; lamina 3.7-12 x 2-4 cm, elliptic, elliptic-ovate or ovate-lanceolate, base acute or round, apex acute, margin entire, glabrous, shiny above and glaucous beneath, coriaceous; lateral nerves 8-13 pairs, pinnate, faint, intercostae reticulate, obscure. Flowers bisexual, 5-6 mm across, reddish-purple, in axillary and terminal paniculate cymes, much shorter than leaves; tepals 5, basally connate into a campanulate tube of 2 mm long, shortly connate to the basal part of the ovary; lobes 2.5 x 1.5 mm, ovate, thin, fleshy, glaucescent without, minutely ciliate; disc concave, adhering to the bottom of perianth, its lobes alternates with tepals; stamens 5, alternates with disc; filaments 1 mm; anthers 0.7 mm, ovoid, 2-celled; ovary superior later half inferior at the time of flowering, globose, 1 mm, 1-celled, ovules 2-3, pendulous from below the long, acuminate, central column; style 1.5 mm, stigma 3 lobed. Fruit a drupe, 8-12 mm across, globose, blackish-purple, annulate above, beaked with the basal part of the style; seed one.

Economic Importance:

  • The fragrant heartwood found in the stem and the root is the most economically important part of the tree. The wood is converted into chips and steam- distilled to produce oil.
  • The sapwood which is also called “white wood” is used for producing ‘’agarbattis’’. Fragrance of sandal is due to Santanol, a polythenol.
  • Sandalwood chips are generally used for making agarbattis. Seasoned sapwood maybe carved into curios, toys, carom coins and lacquerware.
  • Both the wood and oil are used in medicine. Sandal wood is known to dissipate the effect of hot sun or fever, satiate thirst and leaves a cool but refreshing feeling.
  • The wood ground into paste, gives relief if applied on local inflammation, on boils on forehead in fever and on skin diseases.