From Common Forest Trees of Hawaii

‘Lliahi-a-loʻe
Santalum ellipticum
Mistletoe/Toadflax family (Santalaceae)

Native species ()

Four species of sandalwood, Santalum, are native in Hawaii and formerly produced the Hawaiian sandalwood of commerce. Another has been introduced for forest planting. This species is the most widely distributed through the islands and is an example of the greenish to yellowish flowered sandalwoods. A shrub or small tree to 50 ft (15 ) tall and 1 ft (0.3 ) or more in trunk diameter, with rounded much branched Bark dark gray, rough, deeply furrowed into and rectangular plates, thick. Inner bark red and brown streaked, bitter. Twigs green, hairless, becoming brown.


©2010 Forest And Kim Starr
Leaves hairless, with yellow green leafstalk of 1⁄4–3⁄4 inch (0.6–2 ). Blades narrowly elliptical to nearly round, 1–2 1⁄2 inches (2.5–6 ) long and 3⁄4–1 1⁄2 inches (2–4 ) wide, blunt to rounded at long- or short-pointed at base, not on edges, thick and brittle, leathery or thin in a variety, flat or slightly curved upward, upper surface slightly shiny green with few fine side veins, lower surface dull light green.

Flower clusters () and lateral, branched, 1–2 inches (2.5–5 ) long. Flowers fragrant, many, short-stalked, about 1⁄4 inch (6 ) long, composed of greenish yellow bell-shaped tube () with four- spreading four short attached at of tube and and with one-celled half inferior, short and 2–4-

() elliptical of nearly round, about 1⁄2 inch (13 ) long, with ring scar at changing color from green to red and black with blue bloom when mature.

Sandalwood is well known for the fragrance of its heartwood. The Hawaiians called it lā‘au ‘ala (fragrant wood). They made a perfume from the powdered heartwood and added it to their bark cloth. In the Orient, sandalwood served in ornamental carving and cabinet work and as a repellent against insects and was burned for incense. The heartwood is yellow brown, heavy and hard, and very fine-textured. Sapwood is pale brown.

Sandalwood of this and other species is widely scattered through the islands, mostly in dry forests and in lava fields, to about 8000 ft (2438 ) altitude. Santalum ellipticum is best known as a shrub near sea level though it is found up to 2000 ft (610 ), rarely to 7000 ft (2,134 ).

Champion
(Reported as this species but probably S. paniculatum Hook. & Arn.) Height 65 ft (19.8 ), c. b. h. 7.7 ft (2.3 ), spread 48 ft (14.6 ). Honomolino, S. Kona, Hawaii (1968).

Range
Hawaiian Islands only

Sandalwoods differ from most plants in being partial parasites. Their roots become attached to those of nearby plants and obtain some food by robbing these hosts. Thus, establishment of seedlings is uncertain, unless root contact is made with a suitable host.

The history of the sandalwood industry in Hawaii has been told in various references (Degener 1930, p. 142–148). Before Capt. James Cook arrived in Hawaii in 1778, white sandalwood, Santalum album L., from the East Indies supplied the Orient with this valuable, fragrant cabinet wood. In 1791, Capt. John Kendrick, fur trader from Boston, began the sandalwood industry. Price by weight was $125 and up per ton. Export of this important timber brought money, mainly to the chiefs. These leaders were extravagant, purchasing several ships and going into debt. Over many years, they forced the men to labor in the forests, cutting and transporting the wood to harbors on the coasts. Maximum cutting was from about 1810 to 1820. Total sales reached 3 or 4 million dollars. The exports ended before 1845 when the forests became exhausted. There was no planting or forest management. Apparently, the habit may have limited natural regeneration of the wild trees. However, the species of sandalwoods persisted and are not threatened with extinction. Now, they are widespread through the islands, though not in commercial volumes or sizes.

Currently, India is the primary source of sandalwood and sandal oil, which still are important in commerce. Australia also produces some oil. Although much is said of Hawaii’s sandalwood, many other Pacific Islands such as Fiji and the New Hebrides had extensive stands that also were heavily cut during the early 1800s.

stamen -- the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower; The stamen consists of an anther supported by a filament.

cm -- A centimeter which is about 0.4 inches.

m -- A meter is about 10% larger than a yard.

throat -- The opening of a flower.

stigma - The tip of a pistil that receives the pollen.

endemic -- when restricted to a certain country or area.

style -- This is a long and thread-like structure that connects the stigma with the ovary. A flower may have a single style, or several of them.

scale -- A very small leaf around a dormant bud. Also other things that might remind one of fish scales on the surface of ferns, stems and the like.

The apex is the tip or the furthest point from the attachment.

alternate -- leaves alternate along the main stem and are attached singly.

terminal -- Located at the end (the tip or the apex).

Like the teeth on a saw, leaves and other surfaces can have toothed edges.

cyme -- Multiple flower stalks emerge from a single point and the flowers at the end bloom first.

A pistil is the female structure of many flowers. It contains one or more carpels. Each carpel contins an ovary, style and stigma. The stigma receives the pollen which grows thru the style to reach the ovary.

An evergreen tree retains a large portion of its green leaves all year.

In an opposite leaf arrangement the leaves come in pairs with one leaf on each side of a stem.

lobe -- Rounded parts of a leaf (or other organ). Lobes bulge out about 1/4 of the leaf diameter.

calyx -- the sepals of a flower, typically forming a whorl that encloses the petals and forms a protective layer around a flower in bud.

fruit -- any seed-bearing structure in flowering plants. It is formed from the ovary after flowering.

drupe -- A fruit in which an outer fleshy part surrounds a hardened shell containing a seed. A peach is a drupe. A raspberry is composed of drupelets.

canopy -- The foliage of a tree; the crown. Also the upper layer of a forest.

The hypanthium or floral cup is a cup-like structure formed by the fused bases of the stamens, petals, and sepals.

mm -- millimeter. About 1/25th of an inch.

A parasitic plant derives some or all of its nutritional requirements from another living plant.

An ovary is a part of the female reproductive organ of the flower. Above the ovary is the style and the stigma, which is where the pollen lands and germinates to grow down through the style to the ovary.

genus -- A subdivision of a botanical Family in which all members have a significant number of similar characteristics.