Fig. 6. Bernardi (Mus. Geneve 123: 3, 1972): agalugier (arab) à aguila (portuguese)
Under certain pathological conditions, the heartwood becomes saturated with resin is hard to very hard to be the best grade of Agarwood. In general, Agarwood is considered inferior as it appears lighter in tone with diminishing amounts of resin.
Agarwood is a highly prized incense that is extremely rare. It has at least a 3000-year history in the Middle East, China and Japan. There are also references to Agarwood in the literature of India and France, and even in the Old Testament of the Bible.
Agarwood remains today the world's most expensive incense. The value of agarwood shipped out of Singapore alone each year has been estimated to exceed $1.2 billion. E. Hansen, Saudi Aramco World 51:2-13 (December 2000).
This aromatic resinous wood has many common names including agarwood, gaharu, eaglewood, aloeswood, agila wood, aguru, agar, oud, ude, ud, ood, oode, jinkoh, jinko, Ch'Ing Kuei Hsiang, Ch'En Hsiang, Chan Hsiang, Chi Ku Hsiang, Huang Shu Hsiang, kalambak, and grindsanah. The resin is used by Traditional Chinese Used medicinally, agarwood is a remedy for nervous disorders such as neurosis, obsessive behavior, and exhaustion. Many religious groups prize it as a meditation incense to calm the mind and spirit.
Green
Yellow
Black
Fig.7. Identity of traded products
Traditional and commercial products
Fig. 8. Pieces of wood for collection, intenses
Fig. 9. Perfume, cosmetics, traditional medicine, etc.
Natural Range
Fig. 10. Geographic distribution of APS (red) and importing /exporting countries (green)
Fungal infection of Aquilaria tree
The literature has suggested that fungi growing in the wounded Aquilaria tree may cause agarwood formation. Different types of fungi have been suggested including:
Phialophora parasitica,
Torula sp.,
Aspergillus sp.,
Penicillium sp.,
Fusarium sp.,
Cladosporium sp.,
Epicoccum granulatum, Cylimndrocladium,
Sphaeropsis sp.,
Botryodiplodia theobromae,
Trichoderma sp.,
Phomopsis sp., and
Cunninghamella echinulata.
Conclusion
With all of these fungi suggested as a possible cause and no clear definitive research to show that a fungus is responsible for agarwood to form. In the natural Agarwood is infect from cutting or burning may be the way for infect fungi. The fungus Melanotus flavolivens has successfully bee used to induce artificially the formation of agarwood. When the wood tissue of Aquilaria trees was infected with the fungus the color of infected wood tissue was first change from white to brown.
Reference
Lertsirivorakul, R., 1999 Modelling of groundwater flow and tree water use in Khon Kaen Area, Northeast Thailand. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Technology Sydney, unpubl.
Hite, R.J., and Japakasert, W., 1979. Potash deposits of the Khorat Plateau, Thailand and Laos, Economic Geology, Vol. 74, 448-458.
El Tabakh, M., Utha-Aroon, C., and Schreiber, B.C., 1999. Sedimentology of the Cretaceous Maha Sarakham evaporites in the Khorat Plateau of northeastern Thailand, Sedimentary Geology 123, 31-62.
Jenkunawat, P., 2005. Results of Drilling to Study Occurrence of Salt Cavities and Surface Subsidence Ban Non Sabaeng and Ban Nong Kwang Amphoe Ban Muang, Sakon Nakhon. International Conference on Geology, Geotechnology and Mineral Resources of Indochina (GEOINDO 2005), Khon Kaen, Thailand, 259-267.
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