Indian sandalwood, also known as Santalum Album or Tan Xiang in Pinyin, is just what its name suggests: it is a semi-parasitic plant native to India and later introduced to China followed by Buddhism. Pure sandalwood can be used as a Chinese herb that is in the forms of sandalwood chop and powder. Thanks to sandalwood scent's unique effect on soothing heart, calming mind, and eliminating distractions, it is also usually burned in a dedicated burning stove as an auxiliary mean for self-cultivation. As a commonly used aromatic herb, it needs to be distinguished from another one called agilawood (Chen Xiang). From the point of view of traditional Chinese medicine, sandalwood's aroma is quite obvious. That's to say, it diffuses more quickly and further. And "Chen Xiang", literally translated, means "heavy fragrance" in Chinese. So, agilawood is quite calming and introverted on healing properties. As you can see now, they have very different efficacy.

It refers to the woody heartwood of Santalum album L., which is a member in the family Santalaceae. Other common names of this herb are Chandana, Sandal Tree, Yellow Saunders, Lignum Santali Albi, Chandan, White Sandalwood, sandal wood, Tanxiang, Sanderswood, Bai Tan, Yellow Sandalwood, and White Saunders, more. It is mainly produced in India, Australia, and Indonesia. In China it is distributed in Hainan, Guangdong, Yunnan and Taiwan. The preferable harvesting season is summer. After the harvest, it needs to remove the sapwood and chip or cut into extremely thin slices with a special knife. Medicinally it is usually used raw.

Sandalwood

SANDALWOOD BENEFITS 
It highly aromatic heartwood can be used to make artifacts and medicine. In temples it is burned directly or in the form of incense sticks to worship Buddha. As mentioned above, Santalum Album is a semi-parasitic plant, which grows very slowly and usually takes decades of years to grow to full size. That makes it one of the slowest growing trees but the mature trees can be up to 10 meters. This tree is so delicate that its seedlings survive only when parasiting on plants of phoenix tree, ormosia hosiei, Acacia rachii, and the like. As a result, the production of sandalwood is very limited. For that reason, since ancient time it has long been the rare, expensive wood and gift from nature. Today synthetic fragrances and perfumes dominate the world. But compared to this valuable natural spice, they are actually nothing.

Sandalwood as medicine and worship tool has a long history, which was recorded in the ancient Sanskrit classics and Chinese medicinal books. Sandalwood essential oil was used in religious rituals long time ago. It is said that ancient Egyptians imported sandalwood for a variety of purposes, including medicine, antisepsis, worship in religious ceremonies, and carving art. Actually many statues of the Buddha were directed carved with sandalwood wood. Ayurveda, a traditional medicine system from the Indian subcontinent, points out that it owns tonic, astringent, and antipyretic properties. And sandalwood paste was and is used to treat skin inflammation, abscesses and tumors. Similarly, this is also an important herb in traditional Chinese medicine. Today it is still widely used in treatment of various symptoms, such as biliary disease, Cystitis, Gonorrhea, abdominal pain, fever, and vomiting. What's more, it especially works wonders for chapped skin, housewives' eczema, dark spots on skin and face, insect bites, and the like.