Phenotypic variation in leaves of Santalum album L.

Considerable variation have been noticed in the leaf traits of sandalwood in 1997. Until now, only a limited number of studies have been made to describe the leaf phenotypic variation. The present study was conducted in a compact sandalwood population at the Institute of Wood Science and Technology, Bengaluru, India in June 2022 for phenotypic variation in the leaf of sandalwood. The 20 mature trees with 20 leaf parameters for the assessment of phenotypic variation in leaves were selected. Leaves were categorized into nine phenotypic traits, based on their variation in size and shape, such as big ovate, big lanceolate, big elliptic, medium ovate, medium lanceolate, medium elliptic, small ovate, small lanceolate, and small elliptic. The leaf parameters varied significantly, the leaf length ranged from 2.50 to 11.50 cm, and the breadth from 1.00 to 4.50 cm. Leaf parameters were very useful for better understanding the sandalwood phenotypic variation at the taxonomic level.