The plant grows naturally in warm to hot lowland areas in the tropics at elevations up to 600 metres, but usually below 300 metres[312 ]. It prefers a mean annual temperature in the range 23 - 29°c[312 ]. It is found in areas where the mean annual rainfall is in the range 1,250 - 1,750mm (though it can tolerate up to 2,500mm), and there is a distinct dry season of 3 - 5 months[312 ]. Requires a position in full sun or bright shade[312 ]. Requires a light to medium, well-drained soil[312 ]. Prefers a well-drained humus-rich soil. Tolerates poor, shallow soils[312 ]. It grows more quickly in fertile soils but is then more at risk of being shaded out by taller, faster-growing trees[312 ]. Prefers a circumneutral soil with a pH of pH 6.1 - 7.4, but can tolerate 4 - 7.4[312 ]. The plant has a capacity for invasiveness in disturbed places, but this is rarely considered a problem[312 ]. A semi-parasitic plant, obtaining some of its nutriment from the roots of other plants[144 ]. The plant has green leaves containing chlorophyll, and is thus able to photosynthesize - it relies on host plants only for water and soil nutrients, not for sugars, which it can produce itself [343 ]. In a natural situation, the plant seems to rely on nitrogen-fixing trees such as Acacia and Casuarina, though it is known to parasitize many other legumes, shrubs, herbs and grasses[343 ]. It normally has more than one host at a time[343 ]. Acacia spirorbis makes a good long-term host plant under both natural conditions and in plantations. For ultramafic soils, other good nitrogen-fixing host species are Casuarina collina and Gymnostoma deplancheana[312 ]. A fairly slow-growing plant, increasing in height by about 50 - 70cm per year[312 ]. Under good conditions, plants begin fruiting from an early age, typically about 3 - 4 years, but heavy fruiting may take 7 - 10 years[312 ]. The species can produce substantial quantities of its valuable heartwood on a rotation of about 25 - 40 years[312 ]. Plants generally respond well to coppicing[312 ]. Plants are capable of producing root suckers - following harvesting, clumps of suckers may regenerate in a circular pattern several meters away from the original stump[312 ]. Because sandalwood is hemiparasitic and requires one or more host plants, intercropping is not only possible, but necessary[312 ]. Spacing: 6-8 ft. (1.8-2.4 m) 8-10 ft. (2.4-3 m) 10-12 ft. (3-3.6 m).