Sandalwood – Australian (Santalum spicatum)

Description

Santalum Spicatum has a sweet aroma which sandalwood is known for but the woody and earthy, balsamic aromas are most prominent. This essential oil works beautifully when added to a carrier oil or cosmetic product. Apply to dry skin and scars to assist in the healing process.

Sandalwood oil aids in focusing the mind. The scent opens the highest spiritual centers. It can enhance contact with the spirit world.

Ingredients: Santalum Spicata Wood Oil

Botanical name: Santalum spicatum

Plant part: Wood

Extraction method: Steam distilled

Caution: Non-toxic, non-irritating and non-sensitising. Avoid during pregnancy.

Australia, a vast brown land of deserts and plains, a land as old as time and as full of mystery. Somewhere, deep in its western interior lies an almost pristine natural wilderness with its own stories to tell. Deep within that desert, in skeletal red soil alongside its acacia host, grows a parasitic tree known as Sandalwood, Santalum spicatum.

It was sandalwood that first made Western Australia rich, liquid gold they called it and by the late 1800s industry was booming for the new settlers. Prized for its aromatic wood and its Santalol rich oil, tree after tree made their way from their sandy, arid home and into the lives and rituals of people all over the world.

Sandalwood grows wild with shallow roots, taking its nutrients from a host tree in a manner that benefits both. It takes nitrogen and amino acids from the host while both trees benefit from the added shade, grazing and wind protection. The tree grows slowly, taking between 15-25 years to lay down the oil that is so prized and going on to live up to 100 years, well out-living its childhood hosts.

Oil is harvested from the heartwood, the darkest coloured, dense dead wood at the core of the tree which acts as the trees backbone – its core strength. Although it is possible to extract small amounts of oil from other parts of the tree, it is here that the best and most abundant oil is found, hence harvesting involves the destruction of the tree.

The Sandalwood industry has continued to grow both here and in India, where Sandalwood trees are now protected by the government after reaching critically low stock levels. Aware that the Australian industry is facing the same issue over its long-term health and sustainability it was time for a new approach or rather, the active participation of those people whose lives have been entwined with this amazing tree for thousands of years.

Over the last few years progress has been made by representatives from indigenous desert nomads of the region to integrate ancient cultural wisdom and environmental guardianship with modern plantation management, a move that is hoped will secure and protect this wonderful tree and keep its production in the local area.