STRUCTURAL VARIABILITY IN WOOD OF SANDAL, SANTALUM ALBUM L.

摘要

In Santalum album L., population studies have revealed variation in stem form and wood. Sandal trees with pin holes (a new variety) shows regular and small pin holes throughout root, stem and branch portions. The occurrence of such trees ranged from 0.02 to 40%. The concentration of pinholes ranged from 5 to 28 per 100 cm~2. It is found that the pin holes were due to the presence of giant multiseriate medullary rays (256 to 965 mu m in length and 57.6 to 266 iim in width). This is a new report as sandalwood logs normally show smooth and even contours without any blemish consisting of uni and biseriate medullary rays (68.5 to 428.4 mu m in length and 15 to 35.78 mu m in width). The defect value of the timber is 0.05 and is within permissible limits as per Indian Standards Institution specifications. However, this wood cannot be used for carving. The occurrence of twisted trees varied from 0.1 to 8.3 in 54 populations. These trees showed 'Z' or right-hand twist with 65° from bottom to 40° in top portion. The percentage of crooked trees recorded was as high as 31.25%. The knots are usually oval or circular in shape and the percentage of such knotted trees varied from 9.6 to 41.6%. The timber defect value of 1 and 1.5 is estimated and is very high.It is, therefore, important to improve wood quality as sandalwood is used in the handicrafts industry for carving.