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Woody > Santalum > Santalum album > Santalum album

Santalum album


Indian Sandalwood, Santalum




Origin:  Native to the tropical regions of India and the Indonesian islands of Timor and Sumba.
            Mike's Opinion

this is Mike

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Santalum, ordinarily known as Indian sandalwood, is a profoundly esteemed plant known for its fragrant heartwood. It holds critical social, strict, and business significance in numerous social orders.



Michael Pascoe, NDP., ODH., CLT., MSc. (Plant Conservation)

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Family
Santalaceae
Genus
Santalum
Species
album
Category
Woody
Type
Tree (evergreen)
USDA Hardiness Zone
10 - 12
Canadian Hardiness Zone
Greater than 9a
RHS Hardiness Zone
H1b - H2
Temperature (°C)
(-20) - 38
Temperature (°F)
(-4) - 100
Height
4 - 9 m
Spread
4 - 8 m
Photographs
Description and Growing Information
Flowering Period
MarchApril
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.
Landscape
S. album is mainly grown for its timber, but can be used for screens, supports, and windbreaks.
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.
Shape
Rounded tree with branches spreading outwards.
Growth
Medium
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Ethnobotanical Uses (Disclaimer)
Sandalwood is regarded as a coolant, sedative, astringent, and disinfectant in genitourinary and bronchial tracts, diuretic, expectorant and stimulant. The wood, root, bark and leaves of the plant used for the treatment of liver diseases like jaundice by tribal healers. It is very beneficial for treating gastric irritability, jaundice, dysentery, tension and confusion, and is used as a tonic for heart, stomach, liver, anti-poison, fever, memory improvement and blood purification purposes. Various uses mentioned in Ayurveda system about sandalwood are in treatment of various other ailments like diarrhea with bleeding, intrinsic hemorrhage, bleeding piles, vomiting, poisoning, hiccoughs, initial phase of pox, urticaria, eye infections and inflammation of umbilicus.
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