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Sandalwood, Sawnwood and Splitwood
DEAR EDITOR,
I refer to a letter (Kaieteur News, June 19th 2011) from Janette Bulkan titled “No Sandalwood in Guyana”. The competent agency to respond on this issue is the Guyana Forestry Commission and hopefully they will do so at the appropriate time, but I just want to share a few comments on what may have happened here.
Common names for living things vary from place to place, e.g. what we know as crabwood in Guyana is called andiroba in Brazil, but it is one and the same plant (Carapa guineensis). On the other hand what we call cherry (Malphigia glabra) in Guyana is a very different plant from what is called cherry (Prunus avium) in the USA or Canada. It is therefore suggested that one should only make definitive pronouncements on the distribution of a species when the most recent scientific name is used.
After a review of the fortnightly Tropical Timber Report (Vol: 16 # 11, 1st to 15th June, 2011) published by the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), ‘sandalwood’ was mentioned together with splitwood in the same sentence within the Guyana section of the Report. If the Report is examined closely, one would see that sawnwood and splitwood are usually mentioned together.
The Report states “export prices for sandalwood and splitwood also fell during the first quarter of the year”. There is no other mention of sandalwood but the last sentence of the Report states “earnings from sawnwood declined during the first quarter of this year…..” thus re-emphasizing the reduction in export prices for sawnwood. Species of the genus Santalum (the aromatic Santalaceae) are usually and largely found in Old World tropics, so it is obvious that the reference to sandalwood in this Report had no connection with the Santalum spp.
My humble opinion therefore is that this was a genuine mistake i.e. “sandalwood” was mistakenly written instead of “sawnwood”. The Guyana Forestry Commission may wish to confirm this or offer any further information. In the meantime Janette Bulkan must know that as much as one tries to be thorough, mistakes do occur.
This expert seems to be scouring the bottom of the barrel to find issues to attack the current Government.
I also wish to point out that the research information presented on Santalaceae did not highlight the genera in the neotropics, which is a region more relevant to Guyana. There are five genera some of which include Cervantesia, Quinchamalium, Thesium and about thirty five species of Santalaceae that occurs in the neotropics (Mass and Westra, 1997). Additionally, West Indian sandalwood (Rutaceae) and bastard sandalwood (Myoporaceae) also occur in the neotropics, with several representatives of these two families in Guyana.
Finally, like so many others, Janette Bulkan, has clearly confused red sandalwood, Pterocarpus santalinus, (Fabaceae) with white sandalwood, Santalum album, (Santalaceae).
In India, it is white sandalwood which is valued for its scent and not red sandalwood as was incorrectly stated.
Red sandalwood hardly has any scent and is used in Ayurvedic medicine.
I understand that mistakes do occur but I encourage this forestry expert to go back and verify her information.
George Ramadhin
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