Sandalwood

Kew's Plants of the World Online gives the native range of Santalum album as Java to northern Australia, and it is widely cultivated. India has long dominated the trade: its natural sandalwood area was estimated at about 9,000 km², about 90% of it in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and parts of Kerala. Overharvesting, smuggling, fire and spike disease have reduced wild trees, and India bans timber export except handicraft pieces up to 50 g. Plantations, including large ones in Australia, now supply a growing share; heartwood begins to form after about 5–7 years, and oil accumulates in mature trees.

Sandalwood is straight or slightly wavy grained, very fine and even in texture, with white sapwood sharply distinct from the scented yellowish-brown heartwood; the scent belongs to the heartwood and its oil, whose main constituents are α- and β-santalol. The genus Santalum has 17 species, and heartwood quality varies greatly among them: Indian sandalwood oil contains about 66.7–79.5% santalol, compared with about 39% in Australian sandalwood (Santalum spicatum), so "sandalwood" alone does not identify the species.

Sandalwood has been traded from India for thousands of years and plays an important role in Indian religious life; a 2024 review notes that its fragrance has been part of auspicious occasions and of cremation, where the aroma of the heartwood is traditionally regarded as carrying the soul to heaven. In 1792 it was declared the "royal tree" of the Mysore kingdom, and a state monopoly continued after independence. In Japan, byakudan is used for Buddhist statues, art objects, folding fans and incense sticks.

In India, a popular belief cited in the same review holds the sandalwood tree up as the epitome of human excellence, because it is said to impart its fragrance even to the axe that fells it.