Santalum album L.
ചന്ദനം


Family: SANTALACEAE
Sub-Family: Not available
English Name: Sandal Tree
Synonym: Sirium myrtifolium L.
Common Name: White sandal tree
Flowering & Fruiting Period: November - December
Distribution: Peninsular India and Malaysia
Habitat: Dry deciduous forests, also grown in homesteads
Uses: Essential oil yielding, cosmetics production, timber yielding. Sandalwood oil has been widely used in folk medicine for treatment of common colds, bronchitis, skin disorders, heart ailments, general weakness, fever, infection of the urinary tract, inflammation of the mouth and pharynx, liver and gallbladder complaints and other maladies. In traditional Chinese medicine, sandalwood oil is considered an excellent sedating agent.
Key Characteristics: Sandal plants are evergreen trees, bark surface dark grey to nearly black. Leaves simple, opposite, elliptic, apex acute, margin entire. Flowers bisexual, reddish-purple, in axillary and terminal paniculate cymes. Tepals 5, ovate, thin, fleshy. Stamens 5, alternates with disc. Ovary superior later half inferior at the time of flowering, 1-celled, ovules 2-3, pendulous, stigma 3 lobed. Fruit a drupe, globose, blackish-purple; seed one.