Sandal Wood
the wood of San evergreen tree, with leaves opposite and entire, which have been compared to those of the myrtle, as the inflorescence, an axillary and terminal thyrsus, has been to that of the privet. The flowers are at first yellowish, but afterward of a deep ferruginous hue. Though they are inodorous, the wood when cut, especially near the root, is highly fragrant. It grows in the dry region of southern India, and in the islands of the Indian Archipelago. It is largely exported from India to China and Arabia, and, to a certain extent, to Europe. The heart wood is used in the East for carving, for incense, and for perfume. The seeds SANDALWOOD ISLAND yield by expression a thick viscid oil, burnt by the poorer classes in India. An essential oil is also distilled from the wood. Hindu doctors consider sandal wood sedative and cooling, and use it in gonorrhea. The sandal wood of the Sandwich Islands is derived from S. freycinetianum and S. paniculatum. Red sandal wood is the wood of Pterocarpus santalinus, growing in Coromandel and Ceylon. In occidental pharmacy it is used only to color the compound tinc tincture of lavender .
In India the name is also given to Adenanthera pavonina.