Agarwood

Agarwood, aloeswood, eaglewood or gharuwood is a fragrant dark resinous wood used in incense, perfume, and small carvings. This resinous wood is most commonly referred to as "Oud" or "Oudh". It is formed in the heartwood of aquilaria trees when the Acquilara Tree becomes infected with a type of mold ('' Phialophora parasitica'') and secretes a resin to combat the mold. Prior to infection, the heartwood is odourless, relatively light and pale coloured; however, as the infection progresses, the tree produces a dark aromatic resin, called aloes (not to be confused with ''Aloe ferox'', the succulent commonly known as the bitter aloe) or agar (not to be confused with the edible, algae-derived agar) as well as ''gaharu'', ''jinko'', ''oud'', or ''oodh'' ''aguru'' (not to be confused with bukhoor), in response to the attack, which results in a very dense, dark, resin-embedded heartwood. The resin-embedded wood is valued in East and South Asian cultures for its distinctive fragrance, and thus is used for incense and perfumes.

One of the main reasons for the relative rarity and high cost of agarwood is the depletion of the wild resource.Broad, S. (1995) "Agarwood harvesting in Vietnam" ''TRAFFIC Bulletin'' 15:96 Since 1995, ''Aquilaria malaccensis'', the primary source, has been listed in Appendix II (potentially threatened species) by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.CITES (25 April 2005) "Notification to the Parties" No. 2005/0025
. (PDF) . Retrieved on 22 July 2013. In 2004, all ''Aquilaria'' species were listed in Appendix II; however, a number of countries have outstanding reservations regarding that listing.

The aromatic qualities of agarwood are influenced by the species, geographic location, its branch, trunk and root origin, length of time since infection, and methods of harvesting and processing.

First-grade agarwood is one of the most expensive natural raw materials in the world, with 2010 prices for superior pure material as high as US$100,000/kg, although in practice adulteration of the wood and oil is common, allowing for prices as low as US$100/kg. A whole range of qualities and products are on the market, varying in quality with geographical location, botanical species, the age of the specific tree, cultural deposition and the section of the tree where the piece of agarwood stems from.Dinah Jung
''The Value of Agarwood: Reflections upon its use and history in South Yemen''
Universitätsbibliothel, Universität Heidelberg, 30 May 2011, (PDF) p. 4. , the current global market for agarwood is estimated to be in the range of US$6 – 8 billion and is growing rapidly.

Denomination

Etymology

The word ultimately comes from one of the Dravidian languages, probably from Tamil அகில் (agil).

Vernacular names

Agarwood is known under many names in different cultures:

* Another name is ''Lignum aloes'' or Aloeswood, unrelated to the familiar genus, ''Aloe''. Also from ''aghil'', via Hebrew and Greek.Palmer, A. Smythe (1882) ''Folk Etymology''
*In Assamese it is called as "xasi" (সাঁচি).
*In Bengali, agarwood is known as ''agor gach (আগর গাছ)'' and the agarwood oil as ''agor ator (আগর আতর)''.
*In Odia, it is called as "agara" (ଅଗର).
*In Cambodia, it is called "chann crassna". The fragrance from this wood is called "khloem chann" (ខ្លឹមចាន់) or "khloem chann crassna". "khloem" is hard wood, "chann crassna" is the tree species ''Aquilaria crassna'' in the Khmer language.
*In Hindi, it is known as ''agar'', which is derived originally from the Sanskrit ''aguru''.
* In Sinhala Agarwood producing ''Gyrinops walla'' tree is known as "Walla Patta" (වල්ල පට්ට).
* In Tamil it is called "aghil" (அகில்) though what was referred in ancient Tamil literature could well be ''Excoecaria agallocha''.
* In Telugu and Kannada, it is known by the same Sanskrit name as ''Aguru''.
* It is known as ''Chénxiāng'' ( 沉香) in Chinese, ''Chimhyang'' ( 침향) in Korean, ''Jinkō'' ( 沈香) in Japanese, and '' trầm hương'' in Vietnamese; all meaning "deep scent" and alluding to its intense scent. In Japan, there are several grades of ''Jinkō'', the highest of which is known as ''Kyara'' (伽羅). In Vietnam, ancient texts also refer to the use of agarwood in relation to travelling Buddhist monks.
* In Tibetan it is known as ཨ་ག་རུ་ (a-ga-ru). There are several varieties used in Tibetan Medicine: unique eaglewood: yellow eaglewood: ཨ་ག་རུ་སེར་པོ་ (a-ga-ru ser-po), white eaglewood: ཨར་སྐྱ་ (ar-skya), and black eaglewood: ཨར་ནག་(ar-nag).
* Both agarwood and its resin distillate/extracts are known as ''oud'' (عود) in Arabic (literally "rod/stick") and used to describe agarwood in Arab countries. Western perfumers also often use agarwood essential oil under the name "oud" or "oudh".
* In Europe it was referred to as ''Lignum aquila'' (eagle-wood) or ''Agilawood'', from similarity to Tamil-Malayalam ''aghil'
* In Indonesian and Malay, it is called "gaharu".
* In The Philippines, it is known as ''Lapnisan''.
* In Papua New Guinea it is called "ghara" or eagle wood.
* In Thai it is known as ''mai kritsana'' (ไม้กฤษณา).
* In Laos it is known as ''mai ketsana'' (ໄມ້ເກດສະໜາ).
* In Myanmar ( Burmese), it is known as ''Thit Mhwae'' (သစ်မွှေး).

History

The odour of agarwood is complex and pleasing, with few or no similar natural analogues. In the perfume state, the scent is mainly distinguished by a combination of "oriental-woody" and "very soft fruity-floral" notes. The incense smoke is also characterized by a "sweet-balsamic" note and "shades of vanilla and musk" and amber (not to be confused with ambergris). As a result, agarwood and its essential oil gained great cultural and religious significance in ancient civilizations around the world, being described as a fragrant product as early as 1400 BCE in the Vedas of India.

In the Hebrew Bible, "trees of lign aloes" are mentioned in The Book of Numbers 24:6 and a perfume compounded of aloeswood, myrrh, and cassia is described in Psalms 45.Psalms 45: "All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad."

Dioscorides in his book Materia Medica (65 CE) described several medical qualities of agarwood (Áγαλλοχου) and mentioned its use as an incense. Even though Dioscorides describes agarwood as having an astringent and bitter taste, it was used to freshen the breath when chewed or as a decoction held in the mouth. He also writes that a root extract was used to treat stomach complaints and dysentery as well as pains of the lungs and liver. Agarwood's use as a medicinal product was also recorded in the Sahih Muslim, which dates back to approximately the eighth century, and in the Ayurvedic medicinal text the Susruta Samhita.

As early as the third century CE in ancient Viet Nam, the chronicle ''Nan zhou yi wu zhi'' (Strange things from the South) written by Wa Zhen of the Eastern Wu Dynasty mentioned agarwood produced in the Rinan commandery, now Central Vietnam, and how people collected it in the mountains.

During the sixth century CE in Japan, in the recordings of the '' Nihon Shoki'' (The Chronicles of Japan) the second oldest book of classical Japanese history, mention is made of a large piece of fragrant wood identified as agarwood. The source for this piece of wood is claimed to be from Pursat, Cambodia (based on the smell of the wood). The famous piece of wood still remains in Japan today and is showcased less than 10 times per century at the Nara National Museum.

Agarwood is highly revered in Hinduism, Chinese Folk Religion and Islam.

Starting in 1580 after Nguyễn Hoàng took control over the central provinces of modern Vietnam, he encouraged trade with other countries, specifically China and Japan. Agarwood was exported in three varieties: Calambac (kỳ nam in Vietnamese), trầm hương (very similar but slightly harder and slightly more abundant), and agarwood proper. A pound of Calambac bought in Hội An for 15 taels