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Santalum album L., the sandalwood tree, Santalaceae, is an endemic to the western peninsular India, but is cultivated in other parts of India and in Timor island, western Africa and Australia. The leaves, flowers and fruits are illustrated.
Sandalwood tree is of high commercial importance for the oil, sandalwood oil, extracted from the heartwood. The heartwood of the root has more oil than that of the stem.
Adenanthera pavonina (Mimosaceae) and Pterocarpus santalinus (red sandalwood, Fabaceae, Papilionaceae) also yield fragrant wood and are sometimes referred to as sandalwood.
The sandalwood tree starts its life as a partial root parasite.
Both the wood and its oil are diuretic, diaphoretic, refrigerant and expectorant.
The paste of the wood in water is applied to the temples in headache, fevers and local inflammation. The wood paste allays heat and pruritus and is a diaphoretic. It is particularly useful against skin diseases. Before sulphonamides came into use, sandalwood oil was the most popular and potent antimicrobial agent. The oil is used in dysuria, gonorrhoea and cystitis.
Sandalwood oil is extensively used in perfumery and forms the base for ottos (attar) made in India. It is also used for co-distillation of other essential oils of delicate fragrance.
The wood is among the finest and is used extensively by craftsman to carve a variety of decorative items. Sandalwood and its paste have religious significance.
The heart wood yields up to six per cent essential oil. a - and b -santalenes were isolated from the wood. The fruits contain betulic acid, b -sitosterol and a fatty oil.
A triterpenoid compound was identified in benzene extracts from the bark. This compound has strong growth inhibiting and chemosterilant properties against some economically harmful forest insects. Is unfortunate that this property has not been utilised to save forest trees in India, particularly when the bark has no noteworthy uses.