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Santalum album L. (Santalaceae)

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Handbook of 200 Medicinal Plants

Abstract

A small tropical evergreen tree, native to India, Sri Lanka, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Australia. The tree also extensively grows in the mountains of Hawaiian Islands, and resembles orange tree. It has been used in India for over two thousand years for its wood and oil in religious practices and in traditional medicines. Sanskrit writers described two kinds of Chandana : the darker heartwood, called Pitachandana or yellow Chandan, and the lighter wood, Srikhanda or white sandal. It is referred to in the epic Hindu poems of Ramayana and Mahabharata; and is one of the trees of Buddhist paradise, and the chariot of the sun is made of its wood bound with gold. Unani physicians regard it sedative, cardiorefrigerant and cardiotonic, antiseptic, blood purifier, and to strengthen stomach and intestines. It is used for heart weakness, palpitation, hematuria, dysuria, gonorrhea, chronic tubercular cough, and kidney ulcers. Externally, it is cooling, irritant and analgesic, and is used as paste for hot inflammations and headache due to heat. Oil is antiseptic and analgesic for urinary and pulmonary tracts, and expectorant, and used for the treatment of relief of irritation and infection of gonorrhea, and for chronic cough with putrid sputum. Sandalwood essential oil is usually prepared by steam distillation from chips and billets cut from the heartwood, and used in the food industry as a flavor ingredient, in perfumes, cosmetics, and sacred unguents. It is one of a number of popular EOs currently in use as aromatherapy agents to relieve anxiety, stress, and depression. The tree is rich in terpenoids, saponin, phenolics and tannins. Phytochemical studies showed the presence of sesquiterpenes, including α and β-santalol, sesquiterpenoids, geraniol, (+)-α-nuciferol, (+)-citronellol, and lignans from the heartwood; and flavonoids from the leaves. Cold-water extract of sandalwood and oil show highly significant antibacterial activity. Oral treatment of diabetic rats with petroleum ether extract twice daily for 60-days, reduced blood glucose, TC, LDL-C and TGs, and increased HDL-C.

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  1. Stockton, CA, USA

    Shahid Akbar

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  1. Shahid Akbar
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Akbar, S. (2020). Santalum album L. (Santalaceae). In: Handbook of 200 Medicinal Plants. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16807-0_165

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