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Botanical Name: Aquilaria agallocha
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Common Name: Agar Wood, Aloes wood, Jinko, Oud, Agaru, Garu, Eagle Wood, Agila
Wood, Chin-heang, Gaharu, Alambac, Calambour, Gaharu, Karas, Kekeras, Kepang, etc.
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Family: Thymelaeaceae
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Cultivars: A. malaccensis, A. beccariana, A. crassna, A. cumingiana, A.hirta, A.
microcarpa, A. sinensis, A. rostrata, A. khasiana, A.subintegra, A. grandiflora, etc
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Origin: SE-Asia
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Distribution: India, Burma, Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia.
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Habitat: Primary or secondary forests on hill slopes or low lands, at low or medium
altitudes, and also in marginal soils near swamps.
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Habit: Evergreen Tree (18-20 mt height, 1.5-2.5 mt girth)
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Duration: Perennial (>80 years)
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Leaf: Long, coriaceous, elliptic or lanceolate
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Flower: White, green, or yellowish green scented flowers borne in apical or axillary,
sessile or sub-sessile, umbels.
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Flowering Season: July-August and March-April
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Fruit: Green, oval, capsule with leathery coat and fine hairs, enclosing two black seeds.
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Sunlight: Full
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Water Requirement: Moderate
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Soil Texture: Rocky or sandy
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Soil pH: Acidic
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Salinity Tolerance: High
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Propagation: Seed, root cuttings, air layering, tissue culture.
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Cultural Practices: Trees after being infected with a fungus - Phialophora parasitica
(Ascomycetes) produce scented oleo-resin in the heartwood of stems and roots. This can
be noticed from trees of about 20 to 80 year old trees. The best wood is expected from
50 year old tree. The presence of agar can be detected generally by studying symptoms
like poor tree crown development, swellings, depressions, or cankers on tree trunks. The
formation of oleo-resin can be induced by artificial inoculation of fungus or by wounding
tree trunks to get second grade agar wood.
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Economic Part: Bark, heartwood from stems & roots. Wood without resin is white, light
and soft, while wood with resin is hard, dark and heavy.
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Crop Yield: About 6 to 9 kg of agar wood yield can be expected from 80 year old tree.
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Chemistry: Agarwood contains more than 12 chemical components that can be
extracted. 3,4-dihydroxy-dihydroagarofuran, 4-hydroxydihydroagarofuran, agarol,
agarospirol, agarotetrol, alpha-agarofuran, aquillochin, benzylacetone, beta-agarofuran,
dihydroagarofuran, dihydroxyagarofuran, gmelofuran, liriodenine, norketoagarofuran,
noroxoagarofuran,oxo-nor-agarofuran, p-methoxybenzylacetone,
p-methoxycinnamic-acid, oleoresin
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Caution: People with allergies should apply caution when using agar wood smoke or
perfume.
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