105 
Mr. C. A. Barber, Government Botanist, Madras, has made the interesting 
statement * * * § that the roots of this tree are parasitic in character, and puts forward a 
plea for a closer study of the natural history of the tree. 
It appears to me, he writes, sufficient attention has not been given in past attempts at artificial 
reproduction, and a careful study of the liking of the Sandalwood for its different, hosts is sure to be 
repi’oductive of useful results. 
The late Professor T. Kirk f had previously stated, speaking of Fusanus 
Cmining hamii— 
There is reason to believe that this plant is parasitic on the roots of other plants in the young state. 
In an appreciative notice of Mr. Barber’s paper, Sir Dietrich Brandis J points 
out that the parasitism of the Sandalwood tree of India is undoubted, and I make 
the.following extracts from his paper :— 
That this tree is a root parasite was established in 1871 by the late John Scott, then Curator of the 
Royal Botanical Garden, Calcutta, in a most important paper on Lorantliaceoi and other parasites ( Journal 
of the Agricultural and Horticultural Society, Calcutta, vol. ii, p. 287). This paper has not received the 
attention in England which it deserved. Mr. Barber himself apparently had not seen it when he wrote. 
In other countries, however, it has been fully appreciated. Count Solms Laubach, who in 1867 had 
published his researches on Thesium and Osyris, both root parasites of the Order Santalaceee, § gave in 
the Botanische Zeitung for 1874 (pp. 128 and 144) a full account of Scott’s paper, including a translation 
of that portion which relates to Santalum. The microscopic examination by Count Solms Laubach of 
Sandal haustoria sent him by Mr. Scott, whereby its roots attach themselves to the roots of other plants, 
showed a structure in all essential points identical with that of the haustoria of Thesium. In Engler und 
Prantl’s Natiirliche Pflanzenfamilien ( Santalacete ) iii, 1, 204, and in the article on Santalum album of 
Kohler’s Medizinalpfianzen (vol. iii), a detailed review of Scott’s researches will be found. In 1872 and 
1873, when I was working at Kew on the Forest Flora of North-West and Central India, Scott’s paper of 
1871 was not known to me, and the reviews mentioned above appeared much later. 
Scott established the root connection between Saccharum album and species of Saccharum, Bambusa 
as well as a number of palms. To palms he paid special attention, because he had noticed Sandal-trees 
growing with unusual vigour in the vicinity of Arenga. Among Dicotyledons he examined the root 
connection with two species of Heptapleurum and Inga dulcis. 
In regard to Heptapleurum, the following extract from Mr. Scott’s paper is 
worth quoting here :— 
With the Araliacece I had most demonstrative evidence; first in a vigorous old tree of Sandalwood 
growing in the vicinity of a large specimen of Heptapleurum umbraculiferum, which I had occasion to 
cut out. A few months after this I was surprised to find the tree nearly destitute of leaves and altogether 
in a most unhealthy state, though for some time, after the ivy-wort had been removed, no changes have 
been observed. This, however, was probably due to the strong vitality of the ivy-wort’s roots, which may 
have remained fresh for weeks after the stems had been cut out. The tree has since made poor and weak 
growths, though always yielding an abundance of flowers ; and now—the fourth year—it seems to be 
acquiring fresh vigour, probably from having formed new root attachments. The second case was of a 
young tree, 15 feet in height, and growing from the midst of a bush of Heptapleurum venulosum. The 
latter having been cut out, the young sandalwood tree shortly after lost the whole of its foliage, and was 
for fully two years afterwards in a most unhealthy state. 
* The Indian Forester, September, 1902. 
t The Forest Flora of New Zealand, p. 138 (1889). 
J The Indian Forester, January, 1903. 
§ Hermann Graf zu Solms Laubach, Bau und Entiwieklung parasitischer Phaucrogaraen, in Pringsheim Jahrbiicher 
fur wissenschaftliche Botanik, vi, 539. 
