SAN T ALUM ALBUM. (Nat. order Santalacese.) 



SANTALUM. Linn. — GEN. CHAR. Calyx campaaulata 4-(rarely 5-) cleft, segments ovate or triangular, furnished inside with small 

 bundles of hairs behind each of the anthers, stamens equal in number to the calyx lobes and opposite to them, filaments ligulate or filiform, anthers ovoid 

 2-celled, cells deeply bilocellate dehiscing longitudinally by a single cleft, pollen Bubglobose, disk concave adhering to the bottom of the calyx its lobes alter- 

 nating with the segments of the calyx, ovary free at first, semi inferior at the time of flowering and afterwards inferior. Style conical or cylindric, stigmas 

 2-4. Ovary 1-celled, placenta ovoid acute erect from the base bearing as many ovules as there are stigmas let into grooves around its base but pendulous 

 from the apex by long filiform threads, drupe globose or obovoid crowned with a scar where the lobes of the calyx have broken off, putamen woody 1-celled, 

 seed inverse, albumen copious fleshy, radicle superior as long or longer than the cotyledons. Trees or shrubs, leaves opposite or rarely both opposite and 

 alternate on the same plant or all alternate, entire; flowers small in axillary and terminal cymose panicles. — Sirium, Linn. Fusanus, Linn. Mida, A ,, 

 Cunningh, 



TANTALUM ALBUM. (L.) A small tree, about 30 feet higb, rarely reaching 18 inches in diameter, bark brownish and 

 scabrous with longitudinal fissures, branches numerous spreading and forming nearly a spherical head, leaves opposite ovato- elliptic 

 obtusely pointed entire glabrous glaucous beneath, l£ to 3 inches long by 1-1^ broad, petioles J-| inches long, panicles cymose axil- 

 lary and terminal much shorter than the leaves, branchlets opposite bracteated at the base 3-8 flowered, flowers about \\ lines long on 

 short pedicels straw-colored at first, turning afterwards to a deep-purple, inodorous, calyx 4-parted, disk of 4 rounded lobes which are 

 alternate with the anthers and segments of the calyx (in one variety these lobes are obcordate and notched), stigma 3-4 lobed, drupe 

 blackish purple i an inch or a little more in diameter, nut or putamen spherical hard and bony marked with 3 equi-distant elevations 

 from the apex which run a little down the sides, the rest as in the generic character. Roxb. Fl. Ind.ki. p. 442. 



This is the valuable sandalwood tree, it is most abundant almost throughout the dry parts of Mysore, and in all the tracts td the east 

 of the Nilgiris in the Collegal, Bhowani and Saltimangalum tcduqs of Coimbatore, ani in the ' Denkinacottah taluq of Salem, less abundant on 

 other hill tracts in the Salem, Trichinopoly and N. Arcot districts, such as the Shevaroys, Kollay Mallays, Putche Mallays, Javadies, &c, and on 

 the Palneys in Madura, and a- variety with the wood almost scentless is found on our eastern coast mountains ; thii was described by Roxburgh as the, 

 S. my rti folium, but it only differs slightly in the shape of the leaoes vihich are more lanceolate, and in the scales or lobes of the disk being jagged. 

 The tree is found up to about iOQQfeet elevation, it is only the heart wood that $$ scented and of any value, and trees grown slowly on rocky and dry 

 poor soil produce the maximum of this, where the tree is found in rich alluvial S9il on the banks of rivers, &c, it is of very fine growth but produces 

 \no heart wood and is consequently valueless, it is often cultivated in gardens in the plains and may be seen in many gardens in Madras itself, the 

 Iwooi is yellow and delicioudy fragrant, when unseasoned it weighs 72-75 lbs. and when seasoned 58 lbs., and its specific gravity is '924, it finds an 

 immediate sale at 4 Rs. or 4-8-0 per maund of 28 lbs., and it is chiefly employed for making all sorts of ornamental articles, such as small tables, 

 vjork boxes, glove boxes, card cases, &c, a valuable oil used as a perfume is distilled from the roots,, and chips or pieces of the heart wood. The tree 

 is universally known in this presidency by the native name Sandal and Chundanum and the same tree is 1 believe found in parts of the Eastern 

 Archipelago; the wood and" the sawdust are burned as incense in native temples. The Forest Department have now large plantations of this 

 valuable tree, it grows readily from seed if slightly shaded but is very shy of transplanting, and after numerous experiments the plan now found- 

 best is to sow 2 or 3 seeds in the pit where the tree is to stand and at the same time a few chili seeds round them, the latter grow up before the Sandal 

 seedlings and give them the necessary amount of shade whilst young, eventually thestrongest of the 2 or 3 seedlings only is left in the pit the others 

 being removed. 



Analysis. 



1. The panicle or cyme, highly magnified. 



2. A flower bud, calyx valvate. 



3. A flower. 



4. A flower open. 



5. The flower cut open, showing the 4-lobed calyx adnate to the tube of which is the disk with its 4 rounded lobes alternate 



with the stamens the ovary and a 3-lobed stigma. 



7. Anthers, front and back view. 



8. Ovary (with a 4-lobed stigma) cut 'open showing the fusiform placenta erect from the base. 



9. The placenta removed from the ovary showing the ovules let into grooves at its base. 



10. The same, ovules detached from their beds, showing that they are pendulous from long filiform threads. 



11. A fruit. 



12. The nut or putamen removed 'from the fruit, showing the 3 elevated lines which run from the apex. 



13. The nut cut vertically, showing the embryo in fleshy albumen. 



14. The embryo, with its superior radicle. (All drawn from living specimens.) 



256 A y> j 



