‘Iliahialo’e Sandalwood Necklace

A sandalwood flower on a chain to wear everywhere. Both endemic to Hawaii and considered vulnerable, these flowers are an important reminder of Hawaii’s history for the way it shaped and changed so many lives. Luckily it didn’t go extinct, and there are still trees both in forests and coastal areas.

Read more below!

ʻIliahialoʻe

Coast sandalwood (Santalum ellipticum) is one of a number of sandalwood varieties that were found from the coasts to forests in Hawaii. In fact Hawaii boasts 6 species of sandalwood that aren’t found anywhere else in the world. Endemic and vulnerable, sandalwood was victim to the booming, if devastating Hawaii sandalwood trade in the 1790’s-early 1800’s. By the mid 1830’s Hawaiian sandalwood supply was nearly exhausted. This dark history was the cause of one of the worst famines in Hawaiian history as agricultural labor was diverted to sandalwood. Eventually, King Kamehameha III put a kapu on the remaining sandalwood in 1939 and by 1940 the trade collapsed. Find more information in this article. Before the sandalwood trade however, the Hawaiians used the aromatic plant in many ways. They ate the nuts, used its oil medicinally, lent its scent to refresh bedding and clothing. The bark was even used to both help waterproof kapa and to take away the bad smell of new kapa. And of course, as with most fragrant flowers, the Hawaiians used the blooms and new leaves to make lei.