Botanical Spotlight: Sandalwood

One of our aims here at CRANBOURN^® is to create luxury fragrances with a difference. We want to help modern-conscious consumers find beautiful, unique fragrances to bring their interior spaces to life. Combining different botanicals is key to our process, and we want to share some insights about the plants, flowers, herbs and spices that feature in our collections.

In our Botanical Spotlight series, we will delve into the scientific, cultural and olfactory roots of the key botanicals from our fragrance collections.

Sandalwood is an aromatic wood from the family Santalaceae, genus Santalum and species S. album and S. spicatum.

A rare and slow-growing tree

Part of the same family as mistletoe, sandalwoods are hemi-parasitic trees. The seeds are difficult to germinate. Saplings need to be grown surrounded by host trees, and the trees are very slow growing.

As the trees are difficult to cultivate, sandalwood essential oil is one of the most expensive oils used in perfumery. Two of the most important species for oil production are the Indian sandalwood and the Australian sandalwood.

Sadly, these trees have suffered from over-harvesting due to their slow-growing nature. It is often illegally harvested due to its popularity in incense and perfume, leading to it becoming endangered. Luckily with new plantations and synthetic alternatives, this issue is being tackled head on.

Sweet scent magic

Sandalwood essential oil can be obtained by the steam distillation of wood chips, which are taken from the heartwood.

Sandalwood oil is widely used in the fragrance industry. In perfume it works as a useful fixative, tethering to other ingredients to keep them true. As well as its use in perfume, studies have found sandalwood oil has several medicinal properties, including being antimicrobial and aiding mood improvement. It is used in incense, on altars, and in meditatio

Sandalwood is primarily used as a base note. It is sweet, rich and deep, grounding floral and sweet scents. You can experience sandalwood in our woody and oriental Soirée à Marrakech™ fragrance, bringing its distinctive scent amongst bergamot, jasmine and m

To delve deeper into the history, biology and uses of the diverse botanicals in CRANBOURN^® fragrances, explore our extensive botanicals directory.