Common Name: Agar Wood

General Information

Aquilaria crassna is an evergreen tree with an open crown; usually growing 15 - 20 metres tall but with exceptional specimens to 30 metres[]. The bole is 40 - 60cm in diameter, exceptionally to 100cm[].
The aromatic resin obtained from this tree is one of the most famous and most expensive on the planet. It has a very long history of use in religious ceremonies, at funerals etc in the Orient and is widely sought after as an ingredient in perfumery. Commonly harvested from the wild, it is also to some extent cultivated; it is frequently planted around temples, houses and home gardens, whilst large scale industrial plantations have been initiated in Vietnam[].
Exploitation of the diseased wood for the perfume industry has resulted in population declines in Vietnam exceeding 80% over recent years[]. There is a strong indication that the same losses are occurring in the rest of Indo-China[]. Based mainly on the situation in Vietnam, this species is classified as 'Critically Endangered' in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species(2011)[].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Southeast Asia - Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam.

Habitat

Scattered in primary and secondary forests on rocky, shallow ferralitic soil, often along the sides of streams, at elevations up to 1,000 metres[, ].

Properties

Conservation Status	Critically Endangered
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Evergreen Tree
Height	20.00 m
Cultivation Status	Cultivated, Wild

Cultivation Details

A plant of the moist tropics, where it is found mainly at elevations from 300 - 900 metres[]. It grows best in areas where annual daytime annual temperatures are in the range 22 - 28°c, though it can tolerate 14 - 40°c[]. The absolute minimum temperature it experiences is 5°c[]. It is found in areas where the mean annual rainfall ranges from 1,500 - 6,500mm, with a dry season ranging from 0 - 4 months[].
Requires a sunny position according to some reports[, ], whilst others say that it can tolerate some shade[]. Young plants grow well in some shade, but require more light as they grow larger[, ].
Trees have to be at least 15 - 20 years old before they produce deposits of the aromatic resin known as agar wood or eagle wood[].
Three closely related species of Aquilaria are considered to be the major sources of agar wood and are distinguished by the length of their calyx lobes:-
Aquilaria crassna, which comes from Indo-China, has lobes 12 - 15mm long.
Aquilaria malaccensis, from India, and Malaysia has lobes 2 - 3mm long.
Aquilaria sinensis, from China, has lobes 8mm long.

Edible Uses

None known

Medicinal

The root has medicinal uses[].

Agar wood, or the resin contained in it, is stomachic and tranquilizing[]. It is used in Ayurvedic medicine to treat a wide range of mental illnesses, it is a remedy for nervous disorders such as neurosis, obsessive behaviour and exhaustion and is believed to drive evil spirits away[]. It is also used to treat asthma, chest congestion, colic, diarrhoea, diuretic, kidney problems, nausea, thyroid cancer, and lung tumours[, ].

The wood of this species is one of the three ingredietns of a popular Thai rejuvenative and blood tonic known as 'TriSuraPhon'. The other two ingredients are the wood of Cimmamomum parthenoxylon and the bark of Cinnamomum bejolghota. The tonic is said to have a wide range of beneficial effects upon the general health, the individual components having been credited with diverse beneficial properties including antioxidant, anti-ischemic, antimicrobial, anticancer, hypoglycaemic, and hypolipidemic[]. Trials have shown that this tonic can help to normalize lipid levels in overweight individuals, also reducing highly atherogenic LDLC levels and increasing beneficial HDL-C levels[].

Agroforestry Uses:

Initial trial results in Cambodia have shown that the tree is easy to plant and very suitable for planting under the canopies of mixed stands[].

Other Uses

Agar wood is the rare and famous, resin-containing heartwood that is produced mainly from old and diseased trees of several members of this genus[]. In trade a distinction between the wood from these species is rarely made[].
The fragrance produced by the burning agar wood has been highly valued for thousands of years, and its use as incense for ceremonial purposes in Buddhism, Confucianism and Hinduism is widespread throughout eastern and southern Asia. In Thailand it is put into funeral pyres, while in Japan, the incense is used in tea ceremonies[].
Wood only partly saturated with resin but still fragrant, and occasionally also the wood remaining after distillation, is made into sticks called 'joss-sticks' or 'agarbattis' which are burnt as incense[].
The incense is also used as an insect repellent[].

Agar-wood oil is an essential oil obtained by water and steam distillation of agar wood. It is used in luxury perfumery for application in e.g. oriental and woody-aldehydic bases, ‘chypres’ and ‘fougères’. It produces interesting odour notes with clove oil, e.g. in carnation bases. The oil is so rare and expensive that it is only produced on request[].
Agar-wood oil is a yellow to dark amber, viscous liquid with a characteristic balsamic and woody odour. Its aroma has some resemblance with vetiverol or styrax and has a sweetness similar to that of sandalwood oil. Its odour is long-lasting and exhibits a good tenacity in applications[].

The roots are used for incense and cosmetics[].

A fibre is obtained from the bark[]. It is used for hammock making, clothing articles and paper pulp[].

The wood is soft and very fragrant, consisting of irregular patches of dark wood in which heavily scented oleoresins are concentrated[]. Undamaged wood that is only lightly fragrant is used for general furniture, round wood, plywood, posts, stakes, sawn or hewn building timbers, for light construction, carpentry/joinery, containers, crates, musical instruments etc[].
The wood is sometimes used for fuel and charcoal[].

Propagation

Seed - it has a very short viability of less than 10 weeks and needs to be sown as soon as possible after harvesting[]. No pre-treatment is required. Sow in a nursery seedbed, only just covering the seed and leaving the tail above soil level. Germination usually starts within 10 days and can be spread over one month[].
Root cuttings are easy if rooting hormones are used[].
Air layering works well if rooting hormones are used[].

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