Agarwood

Agarwood or eaglewood is the most expensive wood in the world. It is valued in many cultures for its distinctive fragrance, and used extensively in incense and perfumes. Agarwood is the occasional product of two to four genera in the family Thymelaeaceae, with Aquilaria agallocha and Aquilaria malaccensis the best known species. The wood is formed as a result of the tree's immune response to fungal infection.

History

The odour of agarwood is complex and pleasing, with few or no similar natural analogues. As a result, agarwood and its essential oil gained great cultural and religious significance in ancient civilizations around the world. In as early as the 3rd century, the chronicle Nan zhou yi wu zhi written by Wa Zhen of the Eastern Wu Dynasty mentioned agarwood produced in the Rinan commandery, now Central Vietnam, and how people collected them in the mountains.

Etymology

Agarwood is known under many names in different cultures:

• It is known as Chén-xīang (沉香) in Chinese and Jin-koh (沈香) in Japanese, both meaning "Sinking Incense" and alluding to its high density.
• Both agarwood and its resin distillate/extracts are known as Oud in Arabic (literally wood) and used to describe agarwood in nations and areas of Islamic faith. Western perfumers may also use agarwood essential oil under the name "oud" or "oude".
• In Europe it went by the name of Lignum aquila, or eagle-wood, presumably because of its appearance.
• Another name is Lignum aloes or Aloeswood. This is potentially confusing, since a genus Aloe exists (unrelated), which also has its uses, as in the "aloe" brought by Nicodemus to embalm the body of Jesus (John 19:39) which was from the genus Aloë. However, the Aloes of the Old Testament (Num. 24:6; Ps. 45:8; Prov. 7:17; and Cant. 4:14) and of the Hebrew Bible (ahalim in Hebrew) is believed to be eaglewood from Aquilaria agallocha.
• The Indonesian name is "gaharu".
• In Vietnamese, it is known as trầm hương.

Formation

Formation of agarwood occurs in the trunk and roots of trees that have been infected by a fungus. As a response, the tree produces a resin high in volatile organic compounds that aids in suppressing or retarding fungal growth. While the unaffected wood of the tree is relatively light in colour, the resin dramatically increases the mass and density of the affected wood, changing its colour from a pale beige to dark brown or black.

Trade and use

Singapore serves as an important trading center for agarwood products, because of its location and it economic position in Southeast Asia.

Agarwood is used in Arab countries (especially in the Persian Gulf) as incense. In Japan, it is used in Koh-do or "incense ceremony" along with Sandalwood. Agarwood (Aloeswood) was used by the Ancient Egyptians for embalming dead bodies. Agarwood extract is rarely used in western perfumery due to its prohibitive price.

Due to its rarity and the high demand for it, agarwood and agarwood extracts bring high prices. Indiscriminate cutting of trees of the relevant species in the hope of finding agarwood has resulted depletion of wild trees. A single species has been CITES-listed. Projects are currently underway in some countries in southeast Asia to infect cultivated Aquilaria trees artificially to produce agarwood in a sustainable manner.

Odor profile

A natural perfume oil obtained by CO2 extraction from agarwood retains the odor of "true" agarwood: a cepes (mushroom) and carrot seed accord, which can be roughly approximated by combining ambergris, jasmine, earth and wood notes. Lightly infected wood, sometimes cultivated, produces an inferior oil with a vetiver / sandalwood / patchouli character.

External links

• Hong Kong herbarium factsheet of Aquilaria sinensis
• Agarwood
• Rainforest project
• CITES
• Perfumes made from Aloeswood Oils