Santalum ellipticum

Botanical Description

Santalum ellipticum is a sprawling, evergreen shrub or a tree, usually with several main stems and somewhat bushy. It usually grows 1 - 5 metres tall, but can become larger in sheltered moist situations, with specimens up to 12 metres recorded The crown is generally about half as wide as the tree is tall, the bole can be up to 30cm in diameter[ 312 Title Traditional Trees of Pacific Islands Publication Author Elevitch. Craig. R. (Editor) Publisher Permanent Agriculture Resources, Hawaii Year 2006 ISBN 0970254458 Description Beautifully produced book with superb photos and detailed information on over 50 species of useful plants of the Pacific Islands. ]. A root hemi-parasite, it obtains water and nutrients from host plants growing close by and does not grow well in the absence of a host[ 312 Title Traditional Trees of Pacific Islands Publication Author Elevitch. Craig. R. (Editor) Publisher Permanent Agriculture Resources, Hawaii Year 2006 ISBN 0970254458 Description Beautifully produced book with superb photos and detailed information on over 50 species of useful plants of the Pacific Islands. ]. This tree, like several other species of sandalwood tree, produces a highly valued aromatic wood and essential oil. Both the wood and the essential oil are traded internationally[ 312 Title Traditional Trees of Pacific Islands Publication Author Elevitch. Craig. R. (Editor) Publisher Permanent Agriculture Resources, Hawaii Year 2006 ISBN 0970254458 Description Beautifully produced book with superb photos and detailed information on over 50 species of useful plants of the Pacific Islands. ].The tree also has a number of traditional uses, as a medicine and food as well as a source of wood. An attractive tree, it is sometimes grown in home gardens and as an ornamental in Hawaii[ 303 Title World Agroforesty Centre Publication Author Website http://www.worldagroforestry.org/ Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description An excellent online database of a huge range of trees giving very good information on each plant - its uses, ecology, identity, propagation, pests etc. ]. In the Hawaiian Islands, during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the aromatic lower trunks and rootstock of native Sandalwood species were harvested in great quantity and shipped to China, where they were used to make incense, fine furniture, and other desirable products. The trees were harvested almost to extinction. This extensive and often exploitative sandalwood trade in Hawaii was an early economic activity that adversely affected both the natural environment and the human population. Indeed, this activity represented an early shift from a subsistence to a commercial economy in Hawaii that was to have far­reaching and long­lasting effects in the islands[ 312 Title Traditional Trees of Pacific Islands Publication Author Elevitch. Craig. R. (Editor) Publisher Permanent Agriculture Resources, Hawaii Year 2006 ISBN 0970254458 Description Beautifully produced book with superb photos and detailed information on over 50 species of useful plants of the Pacific Islands. ].