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Santalum

L. (1753)

This name is accepted

Kingdom: Viridiplantae Phylum: Magnoliophyta Class/Clade: Santalopsida Order: Santalales Family: Santalaceae Genus: Santalum

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Description

Key Characters:

Growth Form: Trees or shrubs; Apparently hemiparasitic on roots of other plants.

Stems:

Roots:

Leaves: Leaves simple. Opposite or rarely alternate. Margins entire. Petioles short. Stipules absent.

Flowers: Flowers in terminal and ± axillary, compound cymes. Flowers bisexual (perfect). Calyx (sepals) absent. Corolla green, yellowish brown, orange, or dark red, thick and fleshy, 4(5)-lobed. Stamens 4(5). Ovary inferior to partly inferior; stigma 2–4-lobed.

Fruit: Drupes red; purple to bluish black with a conspicuous receptacular ring at or near the apex; often glaucous; aromatic; fleshy and juicy; subglobose to ovoid or ovoid–ellipsoid; 8–25 mm long. Seeds 1 per fruit.

Ploidy:

Habitat:

Elevation Range:

Historical Distribution

Images

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Uses and Culture

USES

  • For dandruff and hair nit treatments, leaves and bark of the ‘iliahi are combined with naio ashes (Myoporum sandwicense). For some venereal diseases, ‘awa (Piper methysticum) is combined with wood shavings of ‘iliahi, nioi (Eugenia reinwardtiana), ‘ahakea (Bobea spp.), and kauila (cf. Alphitonia ponderosa). For severe sores, ‘iliahi, manena (Melicope hawaiensis), and ‘ahakea shavings are combined with ‘awa, and ‘ōhi‘a ‘ai bark (Syzygium malaccense) (Chun 1994:102–104).

  • Wood called la‘au ‘ala (fragrant wood). Traditionally the powdered heartwood was used for perfume that was sprinkled on kapa (Degener 1930:145); the wood was used for musical instruments (Krauss 1993:80). In the historic period sandalwood was harvested for use in China for carved objects, chests, and incense, from about 1791-1840, peaking 1815-26 (Cuddihy and Stone 1990:38). In the Ethnology Collection at Bishop Museum there is a post-contact example of the wood made into a bowl.

CULTURE

  • ‘Alae ‘ulua (Hawaiian Mudhen) tells Maui to rub together sticks of ‘iliahi, which means 'fire bark', to produce fire (Kamehameha Schools 1994:23).

PROPAGATION/CULTIVATION

  • Intermediate. Extract seeds from ripe fruit, air dry 1 week, soak in 0.05% gibberallic acid for 5 days, change solution daily, dust with 1:1 powder sulfur:Captan; transfer to indivudual pot of 1:1 fine cinder/vermiculite after good root develops; only cut weed around plant (Bornhorst 1996:67–69; Culliney and Koebele 1999:64–68).

Natural History

Island Status

Dispersal Agents


Pollinators

Specimens

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Bibliography

Name Published In: Sp. Pl.: 349 (1753)

Occurrences

SNo. Scientific Name Scientific Name Authorship Locality Habitat Basis of Record Recorded By Record Number Island Source Date
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