| General Description | This plant is rounded and very valuable because of its wood quality. It is very expensive, which has resulted in illegal smuggling of the plant. |
| ID Characteristic | Drupe are globose, 1.3cm in diameter. Purple black endocarp, hard ribbed fruit concealed about size of pea, spherical crowned by rim like remains of perianth tube, smooth, rather flesh, nearly black, seed solitary. A small evergreen glabrous tree with slender drooping branches. The sapwood is white and odourless. The heartwood is yellowish brown and strongly scented. Leaves of dimensions 3.8 – 6.3 by 1.6 to 3.2 cm. They are elliptic lanceolate, subacute glabrous, and entire thin base acute; petioles are 1 – 1.3 cm long and slender. flowers are brownish purple, inodorous, in terminal and auxiliary paniculate cymes shorter than leaves. |
| Shape | Rounded tree with branches spreading outwards. |
| Landscape | S. album is mainly grown for its timber, but can be used for screens, supports, and windbreaks. |
| Propagation | Propagated by seeds. Sandalwood seedlings are raised in two types of seed beds: sunken and raised beds. Under different climatic conditions, both beds perform equally well. Both seed beds are made entirely of sand and red earth in a 3:1 ratio, and they are thoroughly mixed with nematicides (Ekalux or Thimet at 500 g per bed of 10 m by 1 m). The seed is evenly distributed across the bed. The seed is covered with about 1 cm of sand. One bed requires approximately 2.5 kg of seed. The bed is covered with straw, which should be removed once the seedlings sprout leaves. The seed beds are sprayed with the fungicide Dithane Z-78 (0.25 percent) once in 15 days to avoid fungus attack, and 0.02 percent Ekalux solution once a month to avoid nematode damage. This planting technique is used in open scrub jungles with many bushes. The seeds are planted during the monsoon season. To sow the seeds, a bamboo pole with an internal diameter of 4 to 6 cm and a length of 1.5 m can be made into an instrument. To rake the soil, the septa at the nodes are removed and one end of the pole is sharpened, or a hollow metal piece is attached. The pole is inserted at the base of the bush, and four to five seeds are transferred through the hole to the base of the bush. This method has had a fair amount of success. Dibbling seeds in pits or mounds the standard trench mound technique used for afforestation of other tree species has also been used for sandal, but this time a perennial host plant is grown alongside the sandal, either on the mound or by the side of the pit. Planting container-raised seedlings, the area needed for this purpose has been completely cleared. Pits of 50 cm3 are dug at 3 m intervals. In the pits, healthy sandal seedlings, preferably taller than 30 cm, are planted. In the alternate rows, various secondary host plants are planted. This method has proven to be effective in a variety of situations. |
| Cultivation | It grows in a wide range of soils but is most common in sandy or rocky red soil zones. The species is not found on black soil but luxuriant growth is noticeable in moist soils such as garden loam and well-drained deep alluvium. It also grows on ferruginous loam overlying metamorphic rocks, chiefly gneiss is considered the best and trees avoid calcareous situations. On shallow stony and gravely soils, growth is poor. It is not exacting to soil depth. On Timor it grows on very stony, grey clay and red loam soils derived from coral parent material, well-drained and having a pH of 8- 9. In India it usually grows on free draining red loams with a pH of 6-6.5, and occasionally on sandy soils associated with laterites. |
| Pests | Spike disease that shortens the internodes, reduces the leaf size, kills haustoria, blocks vascular tissue and eventually kills trees, is a serious pathogen in India. Nursery pests include pathogenic fungi, Fusarium and Phytophthora and nematodes. A wide range of insect pests is reported on this species in India. |
| Notable Specimens | The plant occurs at an altitude of 2000-5000 m above the sea level. In India, the plant is mainly found in the dry deciduous forests of Deccan Plateau at the edge of the Western Ghats Range, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. |
| Habitat | The main distribution is in the drier tropical regions of India and the Indonesian islands of Timor and Sumba. The principal sandal tracts are most parts of Karnataka and adjoining districts of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh in India. The species is mostly found in dry deciduous and scrub forests in this region. The vegetation type is a typical monsoon vine thicket growing on pure sand. It has been recorded on coastal sand dunes immediately above the normal high-water mark and close to the mangroves. It also grows on low lateritic cliffs above the beach. |
| Bark/Stem Description | Bark is tight, dark brown, reddish, dark grey or nearly black, smooth in young trees, rough with deep vertical cracks in older trees, red inside. |
| Flower/Leaf Bud Description | The blossom buds of Santalum collection are ordinarily little and subtle, frequently happening in groups. They typically have creamy or pale-yellow buds. The age of the plant and the environment can affect the size and shape of the flower buds, but they are typically small and spherical or ovoid, measuring less than one centimetre in diameter. |
| Leaf Description | Leaves are thin, usually opposite, ovate, or ovate elliptical, 3-8 x 3-5 cm, glabrous and shining green above, glaucous, and slightly paler beneath; tip rounded or pointed; stalk grooved, 5-15 cm long; venation noticeably reticulate. |
| Flower Description | Flowers are purplish-brown, small, straw coloured, reddish, green or violet, about 4-6 mm long, up to 6 in small terminal or axillary clusters. Unscented in axillary or terminal, paniculate cymes. Flowering appears in March to April in India. |
| Fruit Description | Fruit is globose, fleshy drupe; red, purple to black when ripe. About 1 cm in diameter, with hard ribbed endocarp and crowned with a scar, almost stalkless, smooth, single seeded. |
| Colour Description | Bark is tight, dark brown, reddish, dark grey or nearly black, smooth in young trees, rough with deep vertical cracks in older trees, red inside. The tree begins to bloom at a young age of two to three years. Usually from March to May and September to December, trees bloom twice a year. Fruit is globose, fleshy drupe and has purple to black colour when ripe. Leaves have shining green colour. |
| Texture Description | This tree has a smooth texture. |