What is the difference between agarwood and agarwood wood? A quick guide to telling them apart

Agarwood and agarwood wood are like rubber and the rubber tree, or cow bezoar and the cow - they are two different substances. The bezoar formed from a lesion inside a cow is what corresponds to the agarwood formed from a lesion in an agarwood tree. Calling agarwood a type of wood is itself a misunderstanding of its essential nature. Let's take a look below!

Agarwood wood

Agarwood wood is the dried woody part of trees in the Thymelaeaceae family. Agarwood wood is a kind of timber, and it is also the host of agarwood. Agarwood trees mainly grow in humid tropical rainforests, and are mainly distributed in Guangdong and Guangxi as well as Yunnan, Guizhou and Hainan in China; among East Asian countries, the agarwood produced in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore (Xinzhou agarwood) is considered the best. The part of this tree that has not formed resin is what we call agarwood wood. It grows fast and has low density, so its value is worlds apart from that of agarwood. It is generally used as Chinese medicine, or soaked in chemicals and compressed by illegal traders to pass off as agarwood.

Agarwood

Agarwood, also known as sinking incense, water agarwood and so on, is not a kind of fragrant wood, but a fragrance "formed" by a special type of fragrant tree - a solid condensate that combines oily (resin) components and woody components. When an agarwood tree suffers some accidental injury (such as wind breakage, lightning strike, insect damage, or damage by people and animals) or internal disease, and during the open process before the wound has healed, it is occasionally infected by a special fungus; the fungus and the resin secreted at the wound produce a wondrous reaction, thereby forming a new substance - agarwood.

The difference between agarwood and agarwood wood

1. Essential difference: agarwood is produced by the agarwood tree, but not all agarwood trees can form agarwood. Agarwood wood refers to a tree that has not formed agarwood, and only after agarwood has formed can the agarwood wood be called agarwood.

2. Price difference: although agarwood and agarwood wood differ by only one character, their prices are worlds apart. Agarwood wood has no special value, while agarwood is extremely valuable.

3. Difference in function: agarwood wood is just a kind of timber and can be used as firewood, while agarwood is a precious Chinese medicinal material. Its nature and flavor are pungent, slightly warm, and non-toxic, and it has effects such as promoting the flow of qi and relieving pain, descending adverse qi and regulating the middle, regulating the middle and soothing the liver, and warming the kidney and helping it grasp qi.