Santalum album L. (SANTALACEAE)
Common names
Kannada: Srigandha.
Malayalam: Chandanam.
Sanskrit: Chandana, Taliaparnam.
Tamil: Sandanam.
Telugu: Chandanamu.
English: Sandalwood tree.
Description: Compact evergreen trees, reaching heights of up to 10 meters, adorned with slender, drooping branches; characterized by grey bark and exhibiting facultative root parasitism during their early stages. Leaves opposite or whorled, ovate or elliptic-lanceolate, 4-8 x 1.5-4 cm, cuneate at base, acute at apex, glabrous, thin, glaucous beneath; petioles 1-1.5 cm long. Flowers in 4-6 cm long terminal and axillary paniculate cymes, brownish-purple. Perianth campanulate, lobes 4 (rarely 5), purplish-brown within. Disc cupular, 4-5 lobed. Stamens 4, exserted; filaments short. Ovary unilocular; style short; stigma 2-3 lobed. Fruit a drupe, subglobose or globose, 1-1.5 cm across, purple-black when ripe. Seed solitary, subglobose.
Flowering & Fruiting: March – August.
Distribution: India: W. Peninsula.
Uses: The wood is dense and finely grained, with heartwood displaying a yellowish-brown hue and a potent fragrance. Highly prized in the market, it serves various commercial purposes such as carving, incense production, oil distillation, as an unguent, and for use in religious ceremonies. The wood is dense and finely grained, with heartwood displaying a yellowish-brown hue and a potent fragrance. Highly prized in the market, it serves various commercial purposes such as carving, incense production, oil distillation, as an unguent, and for use in religious ceremonies.