Plant of the Week – Santalum album L.

Santalum album L. (Chandhanam or Sandalwood) is a small to middle sized semi parasitic evergreen tree valued for its fragrant heartwood, which is used in perfumes, and medicines and are very costly. The species is characterized by greyish scaly bark, leaves opposite or rarely alternate. ovate – lanceolate with acute tips. Flowers brownish purple that are arranged terminal or axillary lax panicles. Mature fruits purple- black fleshy containing a single seed. This tree is one of the over – exploited usually (destructively harvested) resource for the heartwood from forest and hence is a Vulnerable (VU) species as per the IUCN Red list 2024.2. Recently there is thrust in cultivating sandal even in homesteads and private lands.

Green Ahalia, is engaged in Sandal nursery and developing cultivation models as sandal based agroforestry and germplasm, conservation plot etc. since it is semi-parasite, host plants are also grown along with sandal in the plots.

For more details: greenahalia@ahhkv.org