Sandalwood Essential Oil

Samples - Sandalwood Chips

    Sandalwood oil Samples 

The word sandalwood in English, Chandan in Hindi, Santhanam in Tamil represent the precious and scented wood.  ‘ Santulam album’ is the botanical name for the above species.  Sandalwood tree is a small ever green tree with a moderate height of 12 – 15 Metres.  Matured trees are covered with a dark brown to reddish bark.  The smooth trunk of young trees turns rough with age and exhibits deep vertical cracks.  The small leathery leaves display a range of greenish colors.  The purplish brown flowers are small and unscented.  Though the tree can grow under a variety of environmental conditions, the finest heartwood is formed only in dry, rocky and hilly terrain in Tamil Nadu.

  In Nilgiris, Coimbatore, Erode, Salem, Dharmapuri, Thiruvannamalai, Vellore, Namakkal and Villupuram Districts, this species naturally spread over in large areas.  It is found in Karnataka and part of Kerala also.

The Sandalwood is used in aromatic, religious and medicinal purposes.  The Sandalwood oil is being extracted from ancient times and exported to different countries from India.  In older days, this oil was used for perfume purpose only and the use was limited to Royal families.  Now this wood, powder and oil is being used quite common for different purposes.

Powder of heartwood upon steam distillation yields the East Indian Sandalwood Oil, which is rated very high for its sweet fragrant persistent.  The percentage of the sandalwood oil content varies from 3% to 5.6% depending on the parts of tree used.  The roots of the tree contain high percentage of oil while stem portion of tree (Jojbokal) contains higher percentage of santalol content.  Popular perfume compositions are prepared by hydro distilling the volatile essences     of flowers (Jasmine, Kendra, Naresissus, Rose) on to sandal oil.  Sandal oil has earned a prominent place in Agarpathi, Cosmetic fragrance and soap industries.  Apart from its importance as supremely satisfying source of fragrance, it finds use in medicine.

Sandalwood oil – Pure is being exported to Dubai, U.K., Singapore, Canada, France, U.S.A., Australia and Hong Kong, and the Corporation is having regular contacts with foreign buyers and also established its brand name.

The major quantity of the sandalwood oil is used for the manufacture of perfumes and cosmetics.  Also the sandalwood oil is playing a vital roll for the preparation of medicines.

Sandal oil is a popular remedy in Gonorrhoea, Chronic foetid bronchitis and Cystitis, gleet, urethral haemorrhage.  Oil is valuable in bronchial catarrh.  A mixture of oil of sandal of cubebs and copaiba is generally recommended for gonorrhoea – Dose seven drops on sugar.

In remittent fevers this oil acts as a diaphoretic. It diminishes the rapidity of heart’s action.  Externally, the oil is an excellent application in scabies in every stage and form.  Sandal oil mixed with its double the quantity of mustard oil is a good application for pimples on nose.  

The chief use of sandalwood oil in medicine is in the symptomatic treatment of disuria.  It is given in the sub – acute stages of cystitis and gonorrhoea for its action on the urinary passage during excretion.  It is also used in diminishing the frequency of mictorition, which is so marked in the tuber – culosis of the bladder.  

Sandal oil is employed as dis–infectants for the urinogential tract and as expectorants in bronchittes.

Specification for sandalwood oil limits as per I S 329 – 1993: