Agarwood tree

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Agarwood tree
Agarwood

Agarwood

Systematics
Rosids
Eurosiden II
Order : Mallow-like (Malvales)
Family : Daphne family (Thymelaeaceae)
Genre : Agarwood trees ( Aquilaria )
Type : Agarwood tree
Scientific name
Aquilaria malaccensis
Lam.
Illustration of Aquilaria malaccensis

The agarwood tree ( Aquilaria malaccensis ), also agar tree and engl. Agarwood , Aloeswood called, provides a popular wood among others as eagle , Paradies , rose , aloe , Agallocheholz , Oud or Calambac is called. It is an extremely rare and valuable smoking wood that is available in Southeast Asia and Northeast India.

The woods of some other Southeast Asian species from the Thymelaeaceae family , in particular the genera Aquilaria and Gyrinops , are also named and used in the same way, e.g. B. from Aquilaria crassna Pierre ex Lecomte ( Thailand , Vietnam , Cambodia ), Aquilaria banaensis PH Hô (Vietnam), Aquilaria baillonii Pierre ex Lecomte (Cambodia, Vietnam), Aquilaria rugosa L.C. Kiet & Keßler (Vietnam), Aquilaria microcarpa Baill. ( Malaysia , Indonesia ), Aquilaria sinensis Gilg. (Vietnam, Taiwan ), Aquilaria beccariana Tiegh. (Indonesia, Malaysia), Aquilaria subintegra Ding Hou (Thailand).

Gyrinops versteegii (Gilg.) Domke (Eastern Indonesia , Papua ), Gyrinops ledermannii Domke (Eastern Indonesia, Papua) and Aquilaria filaria Oken (Eastern Indonesia, Papua). In addition, some surrogates from woods from other plant families are traded on the world market, e.g. B. from the Mexican species Elaphrium graveolens Knuth. Burseraceae , balsam trees and especially Excoecaria agallocha Linn. , a Southeast Asian mangrove belonging to the milkweed family.

The wood from Gonystylus bancanus , Gonystylus macrophyllus and Aetoxylon sympetalum is also used.

Information about the plant species

The agarwood tree is a large, evergreen , rather slowly growing deciduous tree that reaches heights of growth of up to 40 m and trunk diameters of 1.5 to 2.5 m. High buttress roots can sometimes be formed.

The alternate, simple, paper-leathery leaves are short-stalked and ovate or elliptical to lanceolate, they are 5 to 12 cm long and 2 to 5 cm wide and they have a whole edge. The leaves are glossy on one side and dull and light green on the underside and bare on both sides, the tip is pointed to pointed.

The yellow-green, hermaphrodite and five-fold, fragrant and stalked flowers with a double inflorescence stand together in stalked, terminal or axillary and also in internodal, dold-like inflorescences . The ribbed calyx, which is slightly hairy on the outside, is fused into a cup-shaped manner with five spreading to recessed, hairy lobes on the inside, the ten small, sometimes hairy, petals (petaloid appendages) inside the upper rim of the cup are upright. The ten short, partly unevenly long stamens on the edge of the calyx are in two circles. The hairy, two-chamber ovary is upper constant sedentary, fleshy and capitate stigma .

The first flowers and fruits are formed between the ages of seven and nine years. Greenish and leathery-woody, 2.5 to 3.5 cm long, pear-shaped to obovate and fold-fissured capsule fruits with a permanent calyx are formed. They contain one or two seeds. The red-brown, about 10 millimeters large, dense, furry hairy, pear-shaped and beaked seeds have a tailed, somewhat bent, compressed and pointed, white-reddish and fine-haired, long appendage ( Caruncula , Arillode ). When the fruit ripens, the capsule opens and the seed then hangs down on a long, thread-like funiculus .

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 16.

All agarwood species have the botanical peculiarity in their lignin to form a so-called enclosed phloem . This is the primary tissue which, after being wounded and / or infected by pathogens, forms an aromatic resin rich in sesquiterpene ( oleoresin ). The healthy wood has a density of 0.2-0.4 g / cm 3 , depending on the type of plant . Only when the wood is intensively saturated with the aromatic oleoresin does the density rise to 1.2–1.7 g / cm 3, with the result that it no longer floats on water, but is submerged in it. That is why the Japanese (Jinko, 沈香) and Chinese (Chén-xīang, 沉香) translations for agarwood also mean sinking fragrance, which is still a quality criterion in the classification of agarwood.

Only about 7–10% of the trees in nature show this fungal attack. That is why various methods are used in plantations to increase this rate. The trees are artificially wounded in various ways, this has been used for a long time.

From this rare and expensive, resin-soaked wood, the fragrance oud , which has been known for 3500 years and is known in the perfume industry as "black gold", is obtained by distillation , the highest price of which is usually higher than the gold price .

Taxonomy

It was first described in 1783 by Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck in Encyclopédie Méthodique: Botanique 1 (1): 49, t. 356. Many synonyms are known; Agallochum malaccense (Lam.) Kuntze , Aquilaria agallocha (Lour.) Roxb. ex Finl. , Aquilaria secundaria Rumph. ex DC. , Aquilariella malaccensis (Lam.) Tiegh. , Agallochum praestantissimum Lam. , Agallochum officinarum Lam. , Cynometra agallocha Spreng. , Aquilaria ovata Cav. , Aloexylum agallochum Lour. , Agallochum sylvestre Lam. and Aquilaria moluccensis Oken , and Aquilaria agallocha Roxb. nom illeg.

Occurrence

The agarwood tree is found in northeast India, Bhutan , Bangladesh , Indonesia , Cambodia , Laos , Malaysia , Myanmar (formerly Burma), Philippines , Thailand , Vietnam .

Agarwood grows in mixed forests at altitudes of up to about 1000 meters. All agarwood species of the genera Aquilaria and Gyrinops fall under the Washington Convention on Endangered Species . The trade in parts of plants and wood of these species is subject to the CITES standards (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) for the import and export of animals and plants of endangered species.

history

The fragrance oud has been valued in India , Egypt , Israel and the Arab world since ancient times and was first used around 1500 BC. Mentioned in ancient Indian Sanskrit texts.

The essential oil may have a pheromone-like effect. The wood, called "agallochon" or "xyloaloe" (aloe wood), is recommended by Pedanios Dioskurides (1st century) against laxity, weakness and heat of the stomach, as well as for side and liver pain , dysentery or incisions (Dioskurides I; 21 ). It is identical to the "Ahloth" the Hebrews that the Song of Songs Song of Songs 4.14  EU (presumably.. 300 BC.) And in the Psalm Ex 45.9  EU is called. In Pliny (1st c.) It says "Tarum" and was one of the most valuable fumigant. In China it has been known since the 4th century at the latest.

use

The wood comes from trees of the genera Aquilaria and Gyrinops , whose core z. B. by the fungus Phaeoacremonium parasiticum Phialophora parasitica earlier was infected. Not the wood itself is used, but in fact the resin as a reaction of the tree to violations of the cambium layer (or a fungal infection aquilariae Phomopsis and spp Phomopsis. And other sac fungi , molds ) is formed. Cultivation efforts show that trees usually only react with resin formation from the age of 60 and it takes about 20 years for worthwhile amounts of resin to be formed.

With exorbitant prices of up to 250,000 euros for a kilogram of the best, rarest agarwood, it is one of the most expensive woods in the world, with the normal price range being around $ 400 to 16,000. The essential oil obtained from such wood is one of the most expensive in the world.

When distilling dry agarwood, about 0.12-7% by weight of oil is obtained, i.e. 1.2-70 ml per kg. The extraction method is very important here and any pre-soaking of the wood with chemicals or just water, and a pre-treatment with enzymes or bacteria is also used. The quality of the wood is also very important.

This means that a 1 liter of high to top quality oud can ultimately cost up to $ 50,000–600,000 or significantly more, including all ancillary costs.

Agarwood comes in a very wide range of scents between balsamic-sweet, spicy-bitter and woody-animal. The essential oil that is extracted from agarwood is a complex mixture of different sesquiterpenes and their derivatives (mostly epoxides ). High-quality agarwood oil has a woody-animal, spicy-bitter as well as a balsamic-sweet odor component and is marketed as grade A. If one or more odor components are missing or if pronounced foreign notes are present, a gradation into quality class B, C or D. There are different qualities, all in upscale price ranges.

In Arabia , the smoking wood , which is called ud or oud , is offered in markets and bazaars . It is smoked in small chips and it is not uncommon for women to stand over the censer and in this way perfume their whole body and their clothes with this scent.

The Japanese name for agarwood is Jinko (沈香), which means "sinking wood", but also "fragrant wood" or "the overflowing scent". The Japanese differentiate between six types of Jinko , with the more expensive types being traded at prices that are well above the price of gold . The most valuable is the Kyara , which in turn is divided into the qualities yellow , black , green and iron . Other types of Jinko are: Manaban , Sasora , Sumontara (referring to the island of Sumatra), Managa (referring to Malacca ). In the Japanese Kō-Dō ceremony , wood is the most important incense. Agarwood is smoked in the form of small splinters on a mica plate.

One of the most valuable and historical pieces of Jinko is the so-called Ranjatai , which was presented to the Tōdai-ji temple in Nara in 756 . Today it belongs to the Imperial Family of Japan .

As a drug it is called "Lignum Aquilaria Agallocha" or "Lignum aquilariae resinatum". The Chinese medicine is called "Jin Kou Chen Xiang".

The bark of the agarwood tree was used as writing material in various places . Among the Toba-Batak on Sumatra , the magic priests ( Datu ) used the bark of the agarwood tree to produce their oracle books (see Pustaha ). The bark of the agarwood tree (referred to here as sanchipat ) was also used as writing material in the northeastern Indian city of Assam . The oldest surviving manuscripts date from the 15th century, but they are mentioned in literary sources as early as the 7th century.

literature

  • Rozi Mohamed: Agarwood: Science Behind the Fragrance. Springer, 2016, ISBN 978-981-100832-0 .
  • LPA Oyen, NX Dung: PROSEA: Plant Resources of South-East Asia. No. 19, PROSEA, 1999, 2006, ISBN 979-26-2444-9 , pp. 64-67.
  • Flora Malesiana. Ser. I, Vol. 6, Pt. 1, 1960, pp. 6-9, online at biodiversitylibrary.org, accessed October 22, 2018.

Web links

Commons : Agarwood tree ( Aquilaria malaccensis )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Aquilaria malaccensis on asianplant.net, accessed October 22, 2018.
  2. ^ Klaus Kubitzki , Clemens Bayer: The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants. Vol. V, Springer, 2003, ISBN 978-3-642-07680-0 , pp. 373-382.
  3. ↑ Aquilaria agallocha at Tropicos.org. In: IPCN Chromosome Reports . Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis.
  4. ↑ M. Chowdhury et al .: Agarwood manufacturing: A multidisciplinary opportunity for economy of Bangladesh - A review. In: Agricultural Engineering International: The CIGR e-journal. 18 (3), 2016, pp. 171–178, online (PDF) at researchegate.net, accessed on October 22, 2018.
  5. ^ Regula Naef: The volatile and semi-volatile constituents of agarwood, the infected heartwood of Aquilaria species: a review. In: Flavor and Fragrance Journal. Volume 26, Issue 2, 2011, pp. 73-87, doi: 10.1002 / ffj.2034 .
  6. ↑ a b Demand for Agarwood skyrocketing prices at Plantations International, accessed September 21, 2019.
  7. ↑ a b Bhim Pratap Singh: Advances in Endophytic Fungal Research. Springer, 2019, ISBN 978-3-030-03588-4 , pp. 211-224.
  8. ^ Y. Liu, H. Chen, Y. Yang et al .: Whole-tree Agarwood-Inducing Technique: An Efficient Novel Technique for Producing High-Quality Agarwood in Cultivated Aquilaria sinensis Trees. In: Molecules. 18 (3), 2013, 3086-106, doi: 10.3390 / molecules18033086 , online (PDF), at MDPI - Publisher of Open Access Journals, accessed on September 22, 2019.
  9. ↑ Aquilaria malaccensis at KEW Science, accessed on October 22, 2018.
  10. ↑ Aquilaria malaccensis at Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis
  11. ↑ Everything you need to know about oud. The characterful star of the fragrance world. In: visitdubai.com. Dubai Corporation of Tourism & Commerce Marketing, August 22, 2019, accessed August 24, 2019 .
  12. ↑ Lisa Takler: Volatile compounds and antimicrobial effects of selected resins and balms from A – J. Diploma thesis, Univers. Vienna, 2015, pp. 20–30, online . (PDF; 3.2 MB), from updata.univie.ac.at, accessed on November 1, 2016.
  13. ↑ Oud in perfumery is ... Description of a component, application. In: healthyliving-healthnetwork.com. Retrieved on August 23, 2019 .
  14. ↑ Rare and costly fragrances In: Vietnam Heritage Magazine. No. 11, Vol. 2, 2012.
  15. ↑ Rozi Mohamed: Agarwood: Science Behind the Fragrance. Pp. 109, 113, 163.
  16. ^ K Nor Fazila, KH Ku Halim: Effects of soaking on yield and quality of agarwood oil. In: Journal of Tropical Forest Science. Vol. 24, No. 4, 2012, pp. 557-564.
  17. ^ MFP News. Society of the Center of Minor Forest Products, 1993 p. 12.
  18. ↑ Sakon Monggoot, Chadin Kulsing, Yong Foo Wong: Incubation of Aquilaria subintegra with Microbial Culture Supernatants Enhances Production of Volatile Compounds and Improves Quality of Agarwood Oil. In: Indian J. Microbiol. 58 (2), 2018, pp. 201-207, doi: 10.1007 / s12088-018-0717-1 .
  19. ↑ Why is oud oil so expensive? on medium.com, accessed September 22, 2019.
  20. ↑ Agarwood (Aquilaria agallocha). Retrieved December 19, 2015 .
  21. ^ E. Ulrich Kratz: Manuscript Cultures of the Malay World / Manuscript Cultures in Island Southeast Asia. In: manuscript cultures 4 (2011) (PDF; 40 MB) (= catalog for the exhibition “The fascination of handwriting: 2000 years of manuscript cultures in Asia, Africa and Europe” in the Hamburg State and University Library, November 17, 2011 to January 8, 2012 ), Pp. 133–144, here p. 138.
  22. ↑ Jeremiah P. Losty: The Art of the Book in India. London: The British Library, 1982, p. 9.

Movie

  • Agarwood. From the most expensive fragrance in the world. Documentary, Germany, 2009, 43:20 min., Script and direction: Monika Kovacsics and Stefan Degert, production: Filmtrüffel, arte , ZDF , first broadcast: December 1st, 2011 on arte, table of contents with film scenes from Filmtrüffel.
    "A German-Indonesian team of scientists is investigating how the tree species can be saved."