Santalaceae, the sandalwood family (order Santalales), which includes about 36 genera and more than 400 species of semiparasitic shrubs, herbs, and trees, distributed in tropical and temperate regions. In some genera the unlobed, usually alternate leaves are reduced to scalelike structures. The green leaves contain some chlorophyll, which allows the plants to manufacture food, but all Santalaceae are parasites to a certain extent and form connections (haustoria) to their hosts to obtain water and nutrients. The majority of the Santalaceae are root parasites; the others are stem parasites. Most have small, inconspicuous, bisexual or unisexual flowers, which occur singly, although a few species have groups of flowers in the leaf axils or on short spikes. The one-seeded fruit may be surrounded by a brightly coloured nutlike structure.
The aromatic sandalwood (Santalum album) is the only economically important member of the family; it is used in making furniture and in perfumery. Bastard toadflax (genus Comandra in North America, genus Thesium in Europe) and oil, or buffalo, nut (Pyrularia pubera), the oil-filled, pear-shaped fruit of a North American parasite, are other commonly known members of the family.