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Agarwood / Aloeswood / Oud (Aquilaria malaccensis)
Materia Medica
Family: Thymelaeaceae
Accepted name: Aquilaria malaccensis Lam.
Older botanical names found in medicinal literature: Aquilaria agallocha and related historical names now treated as synonyms or older usage
Common and trade names: Agarwood, Aloeswood, Oud, Oudh, Eaglewood, Gaharu, Lign-Aloes
Ayurvedic names: Agaru, Aguru, Krishna Agaru, Agarkashtha
Traditional Chinese name: Chen Xiang / Chenxiang — the official Chinese pharmacopoeial drug is resin-containing wood of Aquilaria sinensis, not automatically A. malaccensis
Part used: Resin-enriched heartwood; distilled oud/agarwood oil in aromatic traditions
Growth habit: Tropical evergreen tree
Primary traditions: Ayurveda, Unani, Chinese medicine, Southeast Asian traditional medicine, incense and perfumery traditions
Conservation: Aquilaria malaccensis is assessed as Critically Endangered in the IUCN record carried by Kew
International trade: Aquilaria spp. and Gyrinops spp. are regulated under CITES Appendix II
Actions & Energetics
Ayurvedic tradition: Agaru is generally described as warming and aromatic, with pungent and bitter qualities. Classical sources associate it with dispersing cold, supporting movement of vāta and kapha, and use in aromatic, respiratory, skin, and external preparations. Because translations and later materia medicas vary, the exact energetic terms should be read within the Ayurvedic source being used rather than converted into a single modern pharmacologic claim.
Traditional Chinese medicine: Chen Xiang is classically described as pungent, bitter, and slightly warm, entering the Spleen, Stomach, and Kidney channels. Traditional functions include moving qi and relieving pain, warming the middle and stopping vomiting, and directing rebellious qi downward in formulas used for wheezing or breathlessness.
These traditional energetic systems describe defined medicinal materials. They should not be automatically applied to perfume labeled “oud,” incense smoke, a concentrated essential oil, or an unidentified agarwood product.
Botanical Description
Aquilaria malaccensis is a medium to large evergreen tree in the Thymelaeaceae family. Mature trees may reach roughly 15–20 meters or more under favorable tropical conditions. The bark is generally grayish to brown, and healthy inner wood is pale rather than naturally dark.
Leaves are simple, alternate, entire, and usually elliptic to oblong-lanceolate with a pointed tip. Flowers are small, pale greenish, yellowish, or whitish and occur in clusters. The fruit is a capsule that opens when mature to expose the seeds.
The famous dark material called agarwood is not ordinary healthy heartwood. It forms after the tree responds to injury, stress, and associated biological activity by depositing aromatic resin into portions of the wood.
Name Confusion, Species Substitution & Look-Alikes
Agarwood is a material, not one single species. Commercial agarwood can come from several Aquilaria and Gyrinops species. Species identity matters when discussing traditional pharmacopoeias, conservation status, chemistry, and international trade.
Aloeswood is not Aloe vera. The old English name “aloeswood” refers to agarwood and has no botanical relationship to aloe succulents.
Chen Xiang should not be used as a blanket synonym for every agarwood. The modern Chinese Pharmacopoeia defines Aquilariae Lignum Resinatum from resin-containing wood of Aquilaria sinensis. Older trade language can be broader, but a modern materia medica should keep the species distinction visible.
High-value agarwood is also vulnerable to substitution and adulteration. Ordinary wood may be stained or scented, low-resin wood may be sold as premium grade, one species may be substituted for another, and synthetic fragrance may be represented as pure natural oud.
Habitat, Range & Resin Formation
Aquilaria malaccensis is native from Bangladesh through parts of South and Southeast Asia into western and central Malesia. Its recognized native range includes areas of northeastern India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo, and the Philippines.
It grows in tropical forest environments and is now also cultivated in plantations and agroforestry systems. Natural agarwood formation is slow and unpredictable. Wounds caused by storms, branch breakage, boring insects, or other injury can trigger defense responses in which the tree deposits fragrant resin. Fungi and other microorganisms are often involved in the affected tissue, but resin formation is better understood as a complex plant defense process rather than simply “wood infected by fungus.”
Traditional Indications
Across Asian medical traditions, resinous agarwood has been used in formulas for digestive discomfort, nausea, poor appetite, abdominal fullness, pain, cold-pattern complaints, respiratory symptoms, calming purposes, and aromatic fumigation.
Ayurvedic records use Agaru in aromatic and medicated preparations, including topical oils and compound formulas. Chinese medicine uses Chen Xiang in formulas centered on qi movement, warming the middle, vomiting, abdominal discomfort, and directing rebellious qi downward. Unani and regional Southeast Asian traditions also document agarwood as a valued aromatic medicine.
These are traditional indications. They should not be rewritten as claims that modern clinical trials have proven agarwood to treat those conditions.
Preparations & Dosage
Ayurvedic Dried Heartwood
The Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India identifies Agaru as dried heartwood under the older botanical name Aquilaria agallocha, matched in current taxonomy to Aquilaria malaccensis. The pharmacopoeial monograph directs dosing according to the physician rather than giving one universal self-treatment amount.
Traditional Powdered Heartwood
Secondary Ayurvedic materia medicas commonly describe small gram-range amounts of powdered heartwood, but the amount varies by source and formula. Because agarwood quality and resin content vary greatly, these figures should not be converted into a single universal modern dose.
Chinese Pharmacopoeial Chen Xiang
The 2025 Chinese Pharmacopoeia gives 1.5–4.5 g for resin-containing wood of Aquilaria sinensis and directs that it be added late in the decoction process to preserve aromatic constituents.
This amount belongs to pharmacopoeial A. sinensis Chen Xiang. It is not a universal dose for A. malaccensis, oud oil, perfume, incense, or every agarwood product.
Oud / Agarwood Oil
Distilled oud oil is a concentrated aromatic material and is chemically different from powdered or decocted resinous wood. There is no established universal internal medicinal dose for oud essential oil. Fragrance use, topical use, inhalation, and oral use should not be treated as interchangeable.
Incense & Fumigation
Burned agarwood is used traditionally for fragrance, fumigation, ceremony, and meditation. Incense use does not translate into an oral dose, and smoke exposure has a different safety profile from wood or oil preparations.
Children & Adolescents
No well-established pediatric medicinal dose for Aquilaria malaccensis agarwood has been established in modern clinical literature. Adult traditional amounts should not simply be scaled down for children, and concentrated oud oil should not be treated as equivalent to dried heartwood.
Where a child-specific traditional formula is used under a recognized medical system, dosing belongs to the formulation and practitioner rather than to a generalized agarwood monograph.
Classical Formulations
- Agurvadi Tailam — an Ayurvedic medicated oil formula containing Agaru.
- Chen Xiang Hua Qi Wan — a Chinese compound formula containing Chen Xiang; modern TCM Chen Xiang is generally tied to Aquilaria sinensis.
- Si Mo Tang — a classical Chinese formula in which Chen Xiang is used with other qi-regulating ingredients.
Formula names document traditional use, but each formula has its own ingredients, preparation, indications, and dosing. The presence of agarwood in a formula does not make the formula evidence for agarwood alone.
Constituents
Resin-rich agarwood contains a chemically complex mixture. Two groups receive particular attention:
- Sesquiterpenes and related volatile terpenoids, which contribute substantially to the characteristic aroma.
- 2-(2-Phenylethyl)chromones, a large group strongly associated with resinous agarwood and widely studied as chemical markers and bioactive constituents.
Other reported compounds across Aquilaria materials include phenolics, flavonoids, benzophenones, xanthones, lignans, sterols, triterpenoids, and aromatic compounds. The profile changes with species, origin, age, resin grade, induction method, storage, extraction, and distillation.
Modern Research
Modern research is dominated by laboratory and animal studies. Investigated areas include anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antimicrobial, gastrointestinal, metabolic, analgesic, sedative, neuroactive, and other activities.
Recent work continues to focus heavily on sesquiterpenoids and 2-(2-phenylethyl)chromones. Experimental studies have examined inflammatory pathways including NF-κB, MAPK, and NLRP3-related signaling.
A 2026 review of agarwood anti-inflammatory research found substantial preclinical evidence but identified a major translational gap: human clinical trials establishing agarwood itself as an evidence-based anti-inflammatory treatment are lacking.
Laboratory findings involving isolated compounds, cells, bacteria, or animal models should therefore be described as preclinical research rather than as proof that agarwood treats inflammatory disease, cancer, infection, diabetes, anxiety, insomnia, or other serious conditions in people.
Adverse Effects
Modern human safety data for isolated agarwood preparations are limited. Traditional use cannot substitute for a complete contemporary adverse-effect record.
Incense smoke: burning agarwood produces smoke, particles, and combustion products. People with asthma, chronic respiratory illness, or strong smoke sensitivity may react to concentrated incense exposure.
Oud oil and fragrance products: concentrated aromatic materials can irritate sensitive skin or trigger fragrance sensitivity. A finished “oud” perfume may also contain other natural or synthetic fragrance ingredients that determine its final safety profile.
Documented Interactions & Contraindications
Clinically meaningful drug interactions have not been adequately characterized in controlled human studies. Because modern human pharmacology is limited, absence of a documented interaction should not be taken as proof that concentrated extracts or oils cannot interact with medicines.
Extra caution is appropriate with concentrated internal preparations in people taking multiple medicines, people with significant liver or kidney disease, and those using products whose species or composition cannot be verified.
Incense smoke is a poor fit for people whose respiratory condition is triggered by smoke or airborne fragrance. Concentrated oud oil should also be avoided on damaged skin or used undiluted when the finished preparation has not been formulated for direct skin application.
Pregnancy & Breastfeeding
There is not enough reliable modern human evidence to establish the safety of concentrated agarwood extracts or oud oil used medicinally during pregnancy or breastfeeding.
Incidental fragrance exposure, traditional fumigation, topical perfumery, and deliberate internal medicinal use are different exposures and should not be grouped together. Medicinal-dose or concentrated use during pregnancy or breastfeeding should be approached conservatively.
Conservation, Legal Status & CITES Trade
Aquilaria malaccensis has been heavily pressured by historic harvesting for naturally resinous wood and is assessed as Critically Endangered in the IUCN record carried by Kew.
Aquilaria spp. and Gyrinops spp. are listed in CITES Appendix II. Appendix II does not mean all trade is banned; it means covered international trade is regulated and documented for conservation.
CITES Annotation #14 covers agarwood-producing taxa while identifying specific exemptions. These include seeds and pollen, certain sterile in-vitro seedlings or tissue cultures, fruits, leaves, exhausted agarwood powder, and qualifying finished products packaged and ready for retail trade. The finished-product exemption does not apply to wood chips, beads, prayer beads, or carvings.
Import and export requirements depend on the exact species, product form, quantity, source, country, and whether the shipment is commercial or personal. High-value agarwood should be traceable to a legal source rather than assumed legal because it is a finished-looking product.
Habitat & Cultivation
- Habitat: Tropical forest environments in South and Southeast Asia
- Climate: Warm, humid tropical to subtropical conditions
- Soil: Well-drained soils with adequate moisture and organic matter
- Plantation culture: Increasingly used to reduce dependence on destructive wild harvest
- Resin production: Valuable agarwood forms only after resin induction or natural injury/stress; ordinary healthy timber is not equivalent
Propagation
Propagation is primarily by seed in plantation systems. Seed viability can decline quickly, so fresh seed and careful nursery handling are important. Seedlings are raised until strong enough for field planting.
After trees mature sufficiently, plantations may use controlled mechanical wounding, inoculation, drilling, or other induction systems to stimulate resin formation. Different induction methods can produce different chemical and aromatic profiles.
Harvesting, Processing & Storage
Resin-rich sections are separated from pale low-resin wood. Material may be sold as medicinal heartwood, incense chips, chunks, carvings, powder, or distillation feedstock.
Oud oil is produced by distillation, often after wood is chipped or ground and sometimes after soaking or fermentation according to the producer’s method. Species, origin, resin content, age, induction method, and distillation technique all affect aroma and chemical composition.
Resinous wood should be stored dry and protected from contamination, excessive humidity, pests, and strong foreign odors. Oud oil should be kept in tightly closed compatible containers away from excessive heat and light.
Food Use
Agarwood is not ordinarily used as a culinary food. Its principal uses are medicinal, aromatic, perfumery, incense, ceremonial, and trade-related. Traditional decoctions or compound medicines should not be described as ordinary food use.
History, Folklore & Spiritual Use
Agarwood has been valued for centuries across India, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, Tibet, and the Middle East. Resinous wood has been burned in temples, homes, funerary rites, meditation settings, hospitality traditions, and religious ceremonies.
In Middle Eastern fragrance culture, oud is strongly associated with personal perfume, clothing, hospitality, and the scenting of living spaces. Japanese incense traditions developed highly refined practices for appreciating individual fragrant woods. South Asian traditions used Agaru in medicinal, aromatic, and ritual contexts.
Because high-grade agarwood has historically been scarce, dense dark resinous pieces gained strong cultural associations with luxury, sacred fragrance, purification, focus, remembrance, and prestige.
Materia Medica Summary
Agarwood / Aloeswood / Oud (Aquilaria malaccensis) is the resin-enriched aromatic heartwood of a threatened tropical tree with long Ayurvedic, Unani, perfumery, incense, and regional medicinal traditions. The Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia recognizes dried heartwood under the older name Aquilaria agallocha, while Chinese pharmacopoeial Chen Xiang is specifically resin-containing Aquilaria sinensis wood and should not be silently substituted for A. malaccensis.
Modern research centers on sesquiterpenes, 2-(2-phenylethyl)chromones, and other resin constituents, with most evidence remaining laboratory or animal based. Human clinical evidence is still limited. Conservation and legal sourcing are integral to this materia medica because A. malaccensis is Critically Endangered and international trade in Aquilaria and Gyrinops is regulated under CITES Appendix II.