Sandalwood comes primarily from trees in the genus Santalum, native to southern India, parts of Indonesia, and Australia. The most prized species, Santalum album (Indian sandalwood), grows across the tropical belt of the Indian peninsula, while a second commercially important species, Santalum spicatum (Australian sandalwood), is found throughout Western Australia. Smaller populations of other sandalwood species grow scattered across Pacific islands including Fiji and Tonga.
Indian Sandalwood: The Original Source
When people refer to “true” sandalwood, they almost always mean Santalum album. This species is indigenous to the drier tropical regions of the Indian peninsula, eastern Indonesia, and northern Australia. Within India, the principal sandalwood tracts stretch across most of Karnataka and into neighboring districts of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh. These south Indian forests have supplied sandalwood for thousands of years, and the tree remains deeply tied to the region’s economy and culture.
Outside India, Santalum album also grows on the Indonesian islands of Timor and Sumba in East Nusa Tenggara province. These island populations were once abundant, but centuries of harvesting have left them severely diminished. The IUCN classifies Santalum album as vulnerable, driven by overexploitation and habitat fragmentation. In Indonesia especially, the remaining wild populations show declining genetic diversity, which makes future conservation harder. The natural population on the island of Flores retains the greatest genetic diversity among Indonesian populations, making it a critical reservoir for the species’ long-term survival.
Australian Sandalwood
Australia is the world’s other major sandalwood source, though it produces a different species. Santalum spicatum grows naturally across the southern two-thirds of Western Australia, and the state’s Forest Products Commission manages the harvest of up to 2,500 tonnes of wild sandalwood each year, mostly from semi-arid and arid rangeland areas. On top of wild harvesting, the Commission oversees about 6,000 hectares of sandalwood plantations on sharefarms in the South West, Wheatbelt, and Mid-West regions.
Australian sandalwood oil has a somewhat different scent profile than Indian sandalwood oil and is generally considered less valuable on the international market, though demand for it has grown as Indian supplies have tightened. Australia has also become a major producer of plantation-grown Santalum album, particularly in the tropical north, which helps relieve pressure on wild Indian and Indonesian forests.
Pacific Island Sandalwood
A third, lesser-known source comes from the Pacific Islands. Santalum yasi grows in Fiji and Tonga, where its aromatic heartwood has been harvested extensively over the past two centuries for the perfume, incense, and medicinal industries. This species is now rare in the wild. Other Santalum species exist in Hawaii, New Caledonia, and other Pacific locations, but none are harvested at a commercially significant scale.
How Sandalwood Trees Actually Grow
One reason sandalwood is so expensive is that the tree is a hemiparasite, meaning it cannot fully sustain itself on its own. A sandalwood tree develops specialized structures called haustoria that physically penetrate the roots of neighboring host plants, using a combination of mechanical force and enzymatic activity to tap into the host’s water and nutrient supply. The tree still photosynthesize on its own (it has green leaves), but it depends on host plants for minerals and moisture, especially in its early years. This parasitic relationship makes growing sandalwood in plantations more complex than most timber species, because suitable host trees must be planted alongside it.
Even under ideal conditions, sandalwood is slow. Heartwood formation, the fragrant core that gives sandalwood its value, generally begins around 10 to 13 years of age. Commercial harvest typically doesn’t happen until trees are 15 to 30 years old or more, depending on the growing conditions and the desired quality of oil. That long wait between planting and payoff is another factor that limits supply and keeps prices high.
What Makes Sandalwood Valuable
The commercial value of sandalwood lies almost entirely in its heartwood and the essential oil extracted from it. The oil is used in perfumery, cosmetics, religious ceremonies, and traditional medicine across Asia. Quality is measured by the concentration of two key fragrant compounds. International standards require that high-grade Indian sandalwood oil contain between 41% and 55% of its primary aromatic compound (alpha-santalol) and between 16% and 24% of a secondary one (beta-santalol). These two compounds together give sandalwood oil its characteristic warm, creamy, woody scent.
Extracting the oil traditionally involves steam distillation of powdered heartwood, a process that requires significant energy and time. Newer methods using microwave-assisted distillation can speed up extraction, but the fundamental input remains the same: mature heartwood from a tree that took decades to grow. The roots and the base of the trunk contain the highest concentration of oil, which is why sandalwood trees are historically uprooted rather than simply felled.
Why Supply Is Shrinking
Wild sandalwood populations have declined dramatically over the past century. In India, the government has long regulated sandalwood as a protected resource, with trees technically belonging to the state in Karnataka regardless of who owns the land. Despite these protections, illegal harvesting remains a persistent problem. In Indonesia, overexploitation has been even more severe, with some island populations reduced to scattered individuals.
Plantation efforts in Australia, India, and parts of Southeast Asia are slowly increasing supply, but the decades-long growth cycle means new plantings take a generation to produce harvestable wood. In the meantime, the gap between demand and sustainable supply keeps sandalwood among the most expensive woods in the world, with high-quality Indian heartwood fetching prices comparable to precious metals by weight.