Santalum

Abstract

Santalum is a genus of woody flowering plants that is harvested mainly for its aromatic heartwood and oil. Members of the genus are trees or shrubs, hemiparasitic in nature, belonging to the family Santalaceae. The demand for the valuable heartwood and oil has resulted in drastic over-harvesting, and these are one of the most heavily exploited groups of plants across the range. Many of the natural populations are highly fragmented. It is feared that such threats could easily undermine the basic genetic variability of the populations of sandalwood and could lead to irreparable loss of the precious genetic resources. Responding to these threats, many initiatives, though recently, have been launched. In this chapter, major issues such as botany and distribution of the species, taxonomy and phylogeographic efforts, effective conservation initiatives, genetic diversity measures taken, crop improvement through traditional and advanced tools, genomics resources developed as well as scope for domestication, and commercialization have been discussed.