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Species Agarwood Tree in The World

Agarwood enjoys the title of “the King of Incenses”. Regarded as the most precious kind of wood in the world, it is indeed an extremely rare natural resource. The rich and elegant aroma of agarwood mainly derives from aloewood oil (or agarwood resin). From the perspective of current botany, four families of trees are known to produce agarwood, namely Thymelaeaceae, Burseraceae, Lauraceae and Euphorbiaceae. In response to specific conditions, such as in face of attacks of natural forces or by human beings, which result in wounds and fungal infection, the trunks of these tropical trees will produce resin for self-treatment, suppression of the spread of wounds and other effects of self-protection. The long process, across tens to hundreds of years, by which the resin and wood fibres integrate and transform into resinous agarwood carrying a unique fragrance is known as “incense formation” or “agarwood formation”.

In the view of current botany, four families of trees are known capable of producing agarwood.

1. Thymelaeaceae: Majority of tress that produce agarwood belong to the genus Aquilaria, which mainly grow in regions in South China, Vietnam , Cambodia , Lao, Vietname, Malysia , Thailand , Burma , India and Indonesia.

2. Burseraceae: Trees in the Burseraceae family that can form agarwood mainly grow in central South America.

3. Lauraceae: Trees in the Lauraceae family that can form agarwood mainly grow in central South America.

4. Euphorbiaceae: Trees in the Euphorbiaceae family that can form agarwood are mainly distributed in the tropics.

(Institute of Agarwood)