About the Species, Pterocarpus santalinus

A hardwood endemic to the Eastern Ghats

Red sandalwood (Pterocarpus santalinus), known locally as ఎర్రచందనం (erra chandanam), is a small-to-medium deciduous tree native to a narrow belt of the southern Eastern Ghats, centred on the Seshachalam hill ranges of Andhra Pradesh. Unlike fragrant white sandalwood (Santalum album), it is a different genus entirely; its value lies in the deep-red, extremely dense heartwood, coloured by santalin pigments.

Why the heartwood is valuable

The heartwood is heavy, fine-grained, and slow to form, trees typically need well over a decade before meaningful heartwood develops, which is exactly why plantation horizons run 12+ years. The species is listed on CITES Appendix II, so international trade in wild-sourced timber is tightly controlled; legally cultivated and documented plantation timber is the compliant path to market.

Growing conditions

• Soil: well-drained red laterite and gravelly loams, waterlogging is the main enemy.
• Climate: hot, semi-arid; the species is drought-hardy once established.
• Density: managed layouts commonly plant around 100 trees per acre with room to grow.

Our project districts, Nellore, Prakasam, Palnadu, Chittoor, YSR Kadapa and Annamayya, were chosen because their soils and climate mirror this natural range. Read how the plantations are run under managed farmland.