Species
+

Santalum album L.

East Indian Sandalwood, Indian Sandalwood, Sandalwood, Sandal, Sandal tree, White sandal tree, White sandalwood, Indian sandalwood, Weißes Sandelholz

Climate known 68 photographs
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Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Santalum album is a small tropical tree, and the traditional source of sandalwood oil. It is native to Indonesia, the Philippines, and Western Australia. It is commonly known as the white sandalwood or Indian sandalwood. It was one of the plants exploited by Austronesian arboriculture and it was introduced by Austronesian sailors to Mainland Southeast Asia, South Asia and East Asia, during the ancient spice trade, becoming naturalized in South India by at least 1300 BCE. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Santalum album”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Santalum

Santalum is a genus of woody flowering plants in the Santalaceae family, the best known and most commercially valuable of which is the Indian sandalwood tree, S. album. Members of the genus are trees or shrubs. Most are root parasites which photosynthesize their own food, but tap the roots of other species for water and inorganic nutrients. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Santalum”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Santalaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Philippines +2
Wild records
108 in range· 107 open

At a glance

Warmest month
31°C
Nov, mean day; nights 27 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1416mm/yr
7 wet months · peak Jan 316 mm (CHELSA)
Light
32–45DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a summer growing season, June to September in the northern hemisphere (December to March at the habitat, southern). Habitat rain 1416 mm a year, wettest January at 316 mm, driest July at 4 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 32 to 45 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 19.4 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Santalum ellipticum Zipp.; Santalum ellipticum Zipp. ex Span.; Santalum myrtifolium (L.) Roxb.; Santalum myrtifolium (L.) Spreng.; Santalum ovatum R.Br. and 1 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, June to September in the northern hemisphere (December to March at the habitat, southern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (1124 mm of 1416 mm) falls in December to March, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 27.8 °C against a yearly mean of 26.8 °C). Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: June to September.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1416 mm a year, wettest January at 316 mm, driest July at 4 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1416 mm a year at the habitat, 1124 mm of it December to March. Wettest month January at 316 mm, driest July at 4 mm; 2 months under 5 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 993 mm to 1840 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 32 to 45 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 32 to 45 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 28, the highest 90th-percentile month 48).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 19.4 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 19.4 °C, the absolute minimum 15.8 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 33.6 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 21.8 °C in July (across the envelope cells 17.9 °C to 23.2 °C), warmest day 30.9 °C in November (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 19.4 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 58 to 66% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 27 °C in Jul to 31 °C in Nov; mean night from 22 °C in Jul to 27 °C in Nov. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest night. 1416 mm of rain a year, most in Jan. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 80 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 15.8 °C and the 99th-percentile day 33.6 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°15°20°25°30°35°40°33.6° 99th-percentile day (undated)15.8° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 32–45RH 58–66 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 80 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C30 / 29–3230 / 28–3230 / 28–3230 / 28–3329 / 27–3228 / 26–3027 / 25–3028 / 25–3229 / 27–3430 / 28–3531 / 29–3431 / 29–33
Night °C26 / 25–2726 / 25–2726 / 24–2726 / 23–2625 / 21–2623 / 19–2422 / 18–2322 / 19–2324 / 22–2525 / 23–2627 / 25–2727 / 25–27
Rain mm316 / 206–445289 / 204–394274 / 145–327145 / 40–19529 / 15–836 / 2–264 / 1–184 / 1–77 / 3–2124 / 11–6373 / 39–150245 / 138–319
DLI35 / 33–4034 / 32–3736 / 34–3836 / 33–3734 / 31–3632 / 28–3434 / 30–3538 / 36–3943 / 41–4445 / 44–4744 / 42–4838 / 36–44
RH %65 / 62–6766 / 63–6764 / 62–6661 / 56–6358 / 50–6158 / 48–6058 / 47–6159 / 48–6261 / 54–6461 / 55–6261 / 59–6263 / 60–65

Each figure is the median across the 80 grid cells holding the 103 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 2032:6262 (-11.625, 133.125). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 15.8 °C, 1st-percentile night 19.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 33.6 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 80 distinct grid cells holding the 103 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2032:6262 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -11.50_133.125, lapse-corrected -1 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 11 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeJawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Philippines, Northern Territory, Western Australia· introduced: Mauritius, Réunion, Rodrigues, China Southeast, Taiwan, Assam, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Caroline Is., Florida
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “wet tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-11.857, 130.86 · in the densest population, 62 records (57% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 108 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 107 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker in the same place. 744 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 5 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 108 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Santalum albumSantalum albumSantalum albumSantalum albumSantalum albumSantalum albumSantalum albumSantalum album

Photographs: (c) Kevin Faccenda, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Ram Dayal Vaishnav, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Subhadra Devi, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) deepachandran, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (2).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Santalum album, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Efficacy of Aqueous and Methanol Extracts of Some Medicinal Plants for Potential Antibacterial Activity
Jigna Parekh, Darshana Jadeja, Sumitra Chanda (2005) · DergiPark (Istanbul University)
Green synthesis of silver nanoparticles and their characterization by XRD
B. K. Mehta, Meenal Chhajlani, B. D. Shrivastava (2017) · Journal of Physics Conference Series
The Evaluation of Nitric Oxide Scavenging Activity of Certain Indian Medicinal Plants In Vitro: A Preliminary Study
Ganesh Chandra Jagetia, Manjeshwar Shrinath Baliga (2004) · Journal of Medicinal Food
Tissue Culture in Forestry and Agriculture.
Linnéa Nyman, Joseph Arditti, Randolph R. Henke, Karen W. Hughes (1985) · Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club
Essential Oils and Anxiolytic Aromatherapy
William N. Setzer (2009) · Natural Product Communications
Sandalwood Fragrance Biosynthesis Involves Sesquiterpene Synthases of Both the Terpene Synthase (TPS)-a and TPS-b Subfamilies, including Santalene Synthases
Christopher G. Jones, Jessie Moniodis, Katherine G. Zulak, Adrian Scaffidi (2011) · Journal of Biological Chemistry
Safety assessment of sandalwood oil (Santalum album L.)
George A. Burdock, Ioana G. Carabin (2007) · Food and Chemical Toxicology
Biosynthesis of Sandalwood Oil: Santalum album CYP76F Cytochromes P450 Produce Santalols and Bergamotol
Maria L. Diaz‐Chavez, Jessie Moniodis, Lufiani L. Madilao, Sharon Jancsik (2013) · PLoS ONE
Antibacterial activity of some medicinal plants against selected human pathogenic bacteria
Usman Ali Khan, Hazır Rahman, Zeeshan Niaz, Muhammad Qasim (2013) · European Journal of Microbiology and Immunology
Aromatic Constituents from the Heartwood of Santalum album L.
Tae Hoon Kim, Hideyuki Ito, Kikuyo Hayashi, Toshio Hasegawa (2005) · Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin
Phytochemistry of the heartwood from fragrant Santalum species: a review
Nicolas Baldovini, Céline Delasalle, Daniel Joulain (2010) · Flavour and Fragrance Journal

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 56 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.