Treatment with Sandalwood/Santalum album

Treatment with Sandalwood/Santalum album. Santalum album/Sandalwood/Cendana native in India and Indonesia, introduce elsewhere. Up to 1200 m above sea level, in dry regions, on lime soils. In Indonesia, the wood is mostly found in East Nusa Tenggara, especially on the island of Timor, although it is now found also in Java and Nusa Tenggara islands other. Sandalwood is considered as an alternative medicine to bring people closer to God.

A tree up height of 15 m, with erect trunk (diameter) 35 cm). The bark is thin, grey, rough, fragnant, yellow-brown wood(sandalwood), containing an essential oil, both used in Hindu religious rituals. When reaching the age of 10 years, the tree is felled. It parasites on other trees with its sucking roots.

Base oils of sandalwood, which is very expensive in its pure form, is used primarily for Ayurvedic healing ways, and to relieve anxiety.The wood is exported to other countries, e.g. China, for furniture, and the scarps reserved for medicine. The chinese Pharmacopoeia uses the wood of the trunk is case of epigastrium (upper abdomen above the navel) ache, hiccough, vomiting and breast complaints.

The essential oil is yielded by wood destillation, has disinfecting action on the urinary tract and is a rather modern drug for treating gonorrhea. The reported components of the essential oil are santanol (a sesquiterpene alcohol, the main active substance), santalone and santene. The wood of Sandalwood (powdered, mixed with water: taken for several days) is also used for the treatment of gonorrhea and dysentery. The bark of root or trunk sandalwood, powdered (taken plus water), is an emenagogue.

Cendana/Sandalwood/Santalum album is medicinal plant, often mentioned in Pharmacopoeias, Natioanal Formulations or legally prescibed; it is found on the WHO priority list of the most used medicinal plants in the world.

Latin: Santalum album
Indonesian : Cendana/Candana/Candani
English :Sandalwood

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