''Santalum austrocaledonicum'', or New Caledonia sandalwood, is a

sandalwood Sandalwood is a class of woods from trees in the genus ''Santalum''. The woods are heavy, yellow, and fine-grained, and, unlike many other aromatic woods, they retain their fragrance for decades. Sandalwood oil is extracted from the woods for us ...

tree from the family

Santalaceae The Santalaceae, sandalwoods, are a widely distributed family of flowering plants (including small trees, shrubs, perennial herbs, and epiphytic climbersHewson & George t al.br>''Santalaceae'' taxonomy, 1984, pp. 191-194.) which, like other mem ...

. It is a small tree with gray bark and green leaves, and is parasitic. Most have been removed from their habitat due to logging; very few trees remain in the wild.

Nomenclature

The species was described in 1861 by Eugène Vieillard. It falls into the family Santalaceae, and shares the genus ''

Santalum ''Santalum'' is a genus of woody flowering plants in the Santalaceae family, the best known and commercially valuable of which is the Indian sandalwood tree, '' S. album''. Members of the genus are trees or shrubs. Most are root parasites w ...

'' with such important species as '' S. album''. The species also includes three variations, ''S. A. austrocaledonicum'', ''S. A. pilosulum'', and ''S. A. minutum''. The

Kanaks The Kanak (French spelling until 1984: Canaque) are the indigenous Melanesian inhabitants of New Caledonia, an overseas collectivity of France in the southwest Pacific. According to the 2019 census, the Kanak make up 41.2% of New Caledo ...

call the tree "Tibo".

Characteristics

''Santalum austrocaledonicum'' typically grows tall, and around wide. The trees flower after 6–7 years, and fruit matures in about 3 months. Typically, the fruit outnumbers the flowers by 10 to 1. The trees have gray bark, and short branches bearing light-green leaves. They are considered semi-parasitic in their early stages: their roots drink the sap of their host plant.

Conservation

The tree's native habitat is on the islands of New Caledonia, as well as

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...

; very little remains of it in its natural habitat, due to logging. During the 1840s, Sandalwood traders came to New Caledonia and began taking wood, both of ''S. austrocaledonicum'' and various trees of the genus '' Agathis'', off the islands at the rate of in the first 15 years. In 1987, so much wood had been cut from Vanuatu that in January the government imposed restrictions on the amount of wood that could be logged. In the past decade, of wood had been removed from Vanuatu's forests. The land was never reforested correctly, due to ownership disputes; and the tree is very slow to reforest itself. Because of this, only around 20% of New Caledonia's land contains original forests. As of 2006, the species only grew in small lots where it had been planted.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3472773 austrocaledonicum Trees of New Caledonia Trees of Vanuatu