Natural Product Radiance Vol 3(2) March-April 2004

83
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This column covers information on the introduction of new plants,
under-utilized plants and cultivation practices of plants suitable for
wastelands and other regions.
The information shall be contributed articles by authors or compiled
by editors. Contribution of articles by plant growers with cultural
practices, seed source and economics are solicited.
Cultivation of endemic Red Sanders for
International trade
S Vedavathy
Herbal Folklore Research Centre
Tirupati 517502
E-mail: Vedavathy@hotmail.com
Keywords: Cultivation, endemic, Red Sanders, Red Sandal Wood, Pterocarpus
santalinus, export, economics.
IPC code; Int.cl.
7
A01G23/02, A61K 35/78, C09B61/00, C22B59/00
Red Sandal Wood or Red Sanders,
Pterocarpus santalinus Linn.
f. (Hindi Lalchandan,
raktachandan) of family Fabaceae is
an endemic and endangered, deciduous
medium sized tree, up to 11m in height
The tree grows as a wild plant in Chittoor
and Kadapa districts of Andhra Pradesh
and found in some pockets of adjoining
state of Tamil Nadu also. The area is
characterised by hot dry climate with
around 100 mm of rain in each of the two
annual monsoons. The trees are found in
the dry hill areas of Palakonda range of
Eastern Ghats often on rocky ground and
at altitude ranging from 150-900 m. It has
a sister species Pterocarpus
marsupium Roxb. that resembles the
Red Sanders and medicinally used in
various preparations.
The heartwood, useful part of
plant is extremely hard, blood red in
colour with occasional light yellow
streaks. Leaflets 3, often 4-5, alternate,
petiolate, the upper most larger in size.
Flowers are yellow in axillary, branched
racemes. The legume is roundish, long
stalked, compressed concavely curved
with a broad wing. Seed solitary. The plant
can be easily located even from a distance
because of its characteristic bark that
looks like cobra skin.
The heartwood of the tree is good
source of a red dye. In Europe Red
Sanders extract has a long history of use
as a red colourant for fish processing.
More recently interest has been shown by
the food industry to expand the range
of applications. The wood possesses
Red Sanders bark
Red Sanders seedlings
Red Sanders canopy with fruits
Natural Product Radiance Vol 3(2) March-April 2004
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medicinal properties also. It is
anticoagulant, improves local circulation
and used for traumatic wounds, abrasions
and bruises. The bark extract is reported
to possess anti-hyperglycaemic activity. In
Indigenous systems of medicine Red
Sanders enter into the compositions of
numerous astringent remedies used in
complaints like bleeding piles,
hemorrhages, dysentery, etc. Wood paste
is applied externally as cooling agent,
purifier of skin after bathing. The
biogeochemical investigations of scientists
revealed that the heartwood and leaves
and soils in which these plants grow
contain large quantity of rare elements,
uranium and thorium which can further
be exploited. Higher concentration of
lanthanum (La), cerenium (Ce) were also
observed in both the plants and soils.
Propagation
The regeneration occurs by
seeds. For plantation one-year-old saplings
are transplanted in pits during rains at a
spacing of 3.5 to 4.5 m. Water logging and
over shading by other trees must be
avoided. Artificial propagation can be
achieved by cuttings. The tree regenerates
well from coppicing but growth is slow
and a 40-year coppice rotation is
practiced. Red Sanders comes up well in
tropical climates especially in dry loamy
red soils. It can be grown any where in
India except in temperate places like
Uttaranchal and other Himalayan regions.
Since it is a wild plant and the
tree takes at least 30-40 years to come to
the stage of cutting, no one put interest to
develop the plant in large scale. The
Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) has
taken up propagation of the plants and
successfully raised the seedlings through
seed germination. In 6-10 months
seedlings become ready for
transplantation. Recently HFRC has also
raised the seedlings of the plant and one-
year-old seedlings, ready for planting are
available with them.
Export potential
The tree is vanishing from its
natural habitat due to uprooting and
cutting of trees for illegal marketing.
Export of Red Sanders from India to
Europe commenced in the 17
th
century,
primarily for textile dyeing. In the 1930s
Japan commenced to import Indian Red
Sanders for the manufacture of the
traditional Shamishen musical
instrument and this market remains
important today at a level of several
hundred tonnes per annum. Demand by
Japan for wavy grain quality timber
resulted in significant illegal and
destructive exploitation of the wild
resources in 1950s and 1960s and
controls were imposed on trading.
However, major importers of Red Sanders
from India are Japan, China and Western
Europe.
The wood is very costly and a tree
of medium size (25 years) costs Rs.
50,000-70,000/-. The present wood rate
is Rs. 50-150/kg. The Andhra Pradesh
government banned the sale of Red
Sanders by private parties and the party
should get permission from the
government to cut the plant even if it is
from their own land. The Andhra Pradesh
Forest Development Corporation (APFDC)
has been appointed as an agent to
government of Andhra Pradesh for
disposal of Red Sanders wood available
with forest department.
The sale of Red Sander wood is
permissible for internal consumption i.e.
in India after obtaining certificate of
cultivation from the authorities. Export of
Red Sanders in value added form is also
permissible under the Indian laws.
Cultivation economics
As estimated by HFRC, 500 trees
can be planted in a hectare and after 25
years minimum 500kg of heartwood/tree
can be obtained. Thus one can expect
2,50,000 kg of wood from one hectare
plantation. At an average market rate of
Rs.75/kg an income of Rs.177.5 lakhs/ha
($ 375000/ ha) is expected. The seedlings
are available with HFRC at the rate of
Rs 8/- each. However, selection of elite
germplasm for the production of wavy
grain timber and improved means of
vegetative propagation is required.
In the export market, Japan pays fabulous prices for this wavy grained wood. Chips and
powder of this wood are also exported to European countries for preserving natural colours of
food-stuffs and dyeing purposes (http://www.agricultureinformation.com/indiaroom/html/
tree_farming.html).