The Eden Institute Biblical Herbalism Education

Eden Apothecary · Herb Profile

Sandalwood

Santalum album

Also known as Chandana

Pronounced Sandalwood: SAN-dl-wood. Chandana: CHUN-duh-nuh. Santalum album: san-TAY-lum AL-bum.

Cool, dry, and calming: a cooling refrigerant and urinary antiseptic that quiets heat-driven irritation and restlessness while soothing the inflamed, burning waterworks.

At a glance

Botanical name
Santalum album
Family
Santalaceae (the sandalwood family; a hemiparasitic tree)
Part used
Heartwood, and the essential oil steam-distilled from it (Oleum Santali). The pale, fragrant inner wood is the medicinal drug; in Ayurveda the ground heartwood paste (chandana lepa) is also applied externally.
Taste
Bitter, Sweet, Astringent. Ayurveda assigns tikta (bitter), madhura (sweet), and kashaya (astringent) rasa. The aroma is sweet and balsamic; the wood itself tastes bitter and astringent.
Temperature
Cool. Ayurveda assigns sheeta virya (cooling) and the herb is pitta-pacifying, which is the reading followed here and in the Western urinary-refrigerant tradition (Grieve). Note a genuine cross-tradition divergence: classical Chinese materia medica classifies the same heartwood, Tan Xiang, as acrid and WARM, a qi-regulator that warms the middle. The cooling reading governs the energetic derivation.
Moisture
Dry. The bitter and astringent tastes and the light, dry (laghu, ruksha) Ayurvedic quality dry and tighten the tissues; it cools and calms without moistening.

Safety at a glance

In pregnancy

Avoid. White sandalwood is rated likely unsafe when taken by mouth in medicinal (greater-than-food) amounts during pregnancy, with a documented concern that it may promote miscarriage; the renally active, diuretic oil adds theoretical risk. Insufficient safety data for the concentrated oil. Source: Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database (white sandalwood / Santalum album), 2024.

While breastfeeding

Avoid. There is insufficient reliable information on the safety of white sandalwood during lactation; err on the side of caution and avoid medicinal internal use. Source: Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database (white sandalwood), 2024.

For children

No reliable pediatric safety data exist; avoid internal medicinal use in children. Because the oil is excreted through and can irritate the kidneys, internal dosing is inappropriate for children. Culinary-level aromatic exposure is not the concern; medicinal oil dosing is. Source: Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database (no established pediatric dose), 2024.

Cautions

The essential oil is excreted through the kidneys and can irritate the renal parenchyma; large or prolonged internal doses may cause kidney damage, so internal use of the oil should be low-dose and short (kept under six weeks). Historic dispensatory doses of the oil (roughly 1 to 2.5 mL) were high and are the reason renal irritation was reported; favor conservative amounts. The oil can cause nausea and gastric upset taken internally. Topical santalol occasionally sensitizes, though skin reactions are uncommon. Adulteration is rampant: true Santalum album is costly and frequently cut with Amyris (West Indian sandalwood), Santalum spicatum, or synthetic santalol; source authenticated oil.

General contraindications

Do not use internally in existing kidney disease, nephritis, or renal impairment. Avoid in pregnancy and while breastfeeding (see those fields). Avoid prolonged continuous internal use of the oil. Discontinue internal use if urinary symptoms worsen or systemic signs of kidney infection appear.

Stewardship

At-risk. Santalum album is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List; wild Indian sandalwood has been severely overharvested and poached, and its harvest and trade are government-controlled in India. Source only certified plantation-grown material (for example established Australian S. album plantations) or verifiably sustainable cultivation; avoid wild-harvested or poached wood and the widely adulterated oils.

In the traditional record

Not securely identified in canonical Scripture. The almug or algum timber of 1 Kings 10:11-12 and 2 Chronicles 2:8 and 9:10-11 is sometimes proposed as sandalwood, but the identification is disputed and more often assigned to red sandalwood (Pterocarpus santalinus) or a Lebanon juniper. Santalum album is native to southern India and the Indonesian archipelago and is a cornerstone of Ayurveda (Chandana) and of Chinese medicine and incense tradition (Tan Xiang).

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