Seasonal Variations of Floral Biology and Identification of Flower Visitors for Good Quality Seed Production of Santalum album Linn: A Case Study in Mid-Hill Zone of Himachal Pradesh

Santalum album Linn, commonly known as Indian sandalwood, is an evergreen tree species valued for its aromatic wood and essential oil. This study investigates the floral biology, identification offloral visitors, and seed setting in S. album within the mid-hill region of Nauni, Solan, Himachal Pradesh. Although, Santalum album Linn’s flowers once a year in its initial years of flowering and twice a year in later years. But, the regular flowering of twice in a year is rare in the same trees. Our observations revealed that S. album flowers bloom twice in a year in the same trees but there is variation in flowering intensity, with a moderate level during the Season 1 (March-April) period and an intense level during Season 2(August-September) period.Such a variation is attributable to low moisture and high temperature during the former period and high moisture and low to moderate temperature during the latter period Morphological characteristics of buds and flowers, along with the activity of floral visitors, play a crucial role in seed setting, which was better in Season 2. Key pollinators, including black ants, Italian honey bees, bluebottle flies, dragonflies, and beetles, were identified as essential for effective pollination, contributing to better seed quality.