SANDALWOOD

Sandalwood is the name for several fragrant woods. From the Sanskrit candanam the name is borrowed as the Greek sandanon. In the strict sense these are woods yielded by trees in the genus Santalum (sandalwood family, Santalaceae), used often for their essential oil. These are yellowish woods, heavy (just short of sinking in water) and fine-grained. Sandalwood has been valued for thousands of years for its fragrance, carving, and various purported medicinal qualities.

Occasionally other oil-yielding woods (from unrelated trees) are also indicated as "sandalwoods" such as Amyris balsamifera (citrus family, Rutaceae), also known as West Indian sandalwood. The tree is native to Central and South America and the Caribbean. Most commercially available amyris oil is distilled in Haiti. A special case is red sandalwood, aka red sanders, (from Pterocarpus santalinus (legume family, Fabaceae)) which does not yield oil and is only fragrant when fresh. This is primarily known as a dye-wood, once of great importance but now only used locally in India. This is an entirely different wood, red in color, although it too is used in carving. In addition it is used in musical instruments, and likely in furniture. It is CITES-listed.

To produce commercially valuable sandalwood with high levels of fragrance oils, harvested santalum trees have to be at least 40 years of age, but 80 or above is preferred. However, inferior sandalwood produced from trees at 30 years old can still fetch a decent price due to the demand for real sandalwood. Unlike most trees, sandalwood is harvested by toppling the entire santalum tree instead of sawing them down at the trunk. This way, valuable wood from the stump and root can also be sold or processed for oil. Sandalwood essential oil provides perfumes with a striking wood base note. Sandalwood smells not unlike other wood scents, except it has a bright and fresh edge with few natural analogues. When used in smaller proportions in a perfume, it is an excellent fixative to enhance the head space of other fragrances. The oil from sandalwood is widely used in the cosmetic industry and is expensive. The true sandalwood is a protected species, and its demand cannot be met. Many species of plants are traded under the name of "sandalwood". Within the genus santalum alone, there are more than 19 varieties that can be called sandalwood. Traders will often accept oil from closely related species such as various species of santalum genus and the oil of West Indian sandalwood (Amyris balsamifera) from the family of Rutaceae.

Sandalwood essential oil was popular in medicine up to 1920-1930, mostly as an urogenital (internal) and skin (external) antiseptic. Its main component beta-santalol (~90%) has antimicrobial properties. It is used in aromatherapy and to prepare soaps. Due to this antimicrobial activity, it can be used to clear skin from blackheads and spots, but it must always be properly diluted with a carrier oil. Because of its strength, sandalwood oil should never be applied to the skin without being diluted in a carrier oil.