What Is the Difference Between Agarwood and Agarwood Resin? Explained Clearly in One Article

Agarwood is the dry, oil-deposited portion of the wood of trees in the Thymelaeaceae family such as Aquilaria sinensis or agarwood trees; it is a type of wood, spice, and traditional Chinese medicine. Below we explain the difference between agarwood and agarwood resin.

1. The difference between agarwood and agarwood resin

Agarwood resin refers to the fragrance produced by the agarwood tree; it is the resin formed when the agarwood tree is infected by fungi, which then secrete and combine, and after many years of deposition. Agarwood is a type of wood, that is, the host of agarwood resin, and is an ordinary arbor tree of the Thymelaeaceae family. This tree is sometimes directly called the agarwood tree, and sometimes called the feng tree.

2. The conditions for the formation of agarwood

Agarwood is in fact a transformed product of the sap of plants of four specific families and genera: Burseraceae, Lauraceae, Thymelaeaceae, and Euphorbiaceae. For it to produce the resin-forming effect, the following conditions must be met.

First, it must be a plant of one of the four specific families and genera: Burseraceae, Lauraceae, Thymelaeaceae, and Euphorbiaceae.

Second, the trunk must contain mature and well-developed resin ducts (usually a mature tree of thirty years or more).

Third, the tree must have had a wound deep enough to reach the xylem of the trunk; the wound may have been caused by knives or axes, natural forces, or insects and ants; if the wound heals quickly, no resin will form.

Fourth, the trunk wound must be infected by mold, and the tissue around the wound begins to rot due to the infection, so the sap in the xylem, stimulated by this, transforms into a paste-like resinous mass that seals and blocks the surrounding tissue, preventing the rot from continuing to worsen and spread. From microscopic observation of the cross-section of agarwood, one can clearly see the process in which resin is secreted from the xylem vessels and then aggregates into oily agarwood.

Fifth, in the formation of agarwood, due to different tree species, different natural environments, and different mold stimuli, there are in fact many different scent variations; from a chemical point of view, these are respectively: agarol, acetic acid agarwood ester, and: phosphoaminobenzoic acid agarwood ester, benzoic acid agarwood ester, isobutyric acid agarwood ester, n-butyric acid agarwood ester, cinnamic acid agarwood ester.

Natural agarwood will not fade or lose its oil. If it fades when held in the hand or there is obvious oil on the hand, then it can be judged to be artificially processed.