Info post: Agar Wood - The Wood of the Gods

Hello all!
I was helping my dad to do some study about something interesting!

Have you ever heard of Agar wood? Agar Wood is often regarded as the "Wood of the Gods" or a very rare wood which is found in most of South and Southeast Asia. According to a few sources, agar wood is actually belong to a dark resinous heartwood that forms in Aquilaria trees when they become infected with a type of mold. These type of wood must be infected with these type of mold in order to become Agar Wood.

These type of wood is highly appreciated for thousands of years! And when you happen to have one Agar Wood which is in good condition, the price will be twice as the price of pure gold!! It can be turned into perfumes!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. Till today, Agar Wood is still one of the most important wood which is still traded around the world for it's outstanding qualities!



The wood is produced from a tree type called "Aquilaria", species of the trees of Thymelaeaceae, which in short, the native trees of Asia. 15 out of 23 species of Aquilaria can be transform into Agar Wood.

Aquilaria subintegra, found in Thailand
Aquilaria crassna found in Malaysia, Thailand, and Cambodia
Aquilaria malaccensis, found in Malaysia, Thailand, and India
Aquilaria apiculina, found in Philippines
Aquilaria baillonil, found in Thailand and Cambodia
Aquilaria baneonsis, found in Vietnam
Aquilaria beccarain, found in Indonesia
Aquilaria brachyantha, found in Malaysia
Aquilaria cumingiana, found in Indonesia and Malaysia
Aquilaria filaria, found in China
Aquilaria grandiflora, found in China
Aquilaria hilata, found in Indonesia and Malaysia
Aquilaria khasiana, found in India
Aquilaria microcapa, found in Indonesia and Malaysia
Aquilaria rostrata, found in Malaysia
Aquilaria sinensis, found in China

And what do we often call these woods in different languages?
Chén-xīang (沉香) in Chinese
"trầm hương" in Vietnamese
Jin-koh (沈香) in Japanese
Oud (عود) in Arabic (literally wood)
Lignum aquila (eagle-wood) or Agilawood in Europe
ཨ་ག་རུ་ (a-ga-ru) in Tibetan
"Gaharu" in Malay and Indonesian
"Ghara" in New Guinea
In Hindi (India), it is known as "agar", which is originally Sanskrit based.
"Mai Kritsana" (ไม้กฤษณา) in Thai
"Mai Ketsana". in Laos

To girls our there, you can now check your perfumes to see is there substances from Agar Wood? Because most of perfumes nowadays have at least 1% of it!

Thanks to my Dad who gives me the idea to do research on this Wood!!! And a few sources such as wikipedia! TQ!!

Kendy

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