How is agarwood formed? What kind of wood is agarwood made of

Mature incense tree, by the wind and rain, thunder and lightning and other external damage, the incense tree is in the instinct of self-repair, secreting resin to the wound, during the wound also encountered some fungi, by the fungus infection, so that a series of chemical reactions occur, after long-term alcoholization, the organic compounds produced by these chemical changes and the wood fiber of the incense tree are mixed, solidified to form agarwood.

Agarwood is formed by the deposition of wood from four specific families: Oliveaceae, Camphraceae, Ruixiang, and Euphorbiaceae. Agarwood has been a very valuable wood since ancient times, and it is also the best raw material for handicrafts. In ancient times, it was often said that the "Shen" in "Shen Tan Dragon Musk" refers to agarwood.

Agarwood has been listed as the first of all incense since ancient times, and unlike sandalwood, agarwood is not a wood, but a special type of incense tree that produces a solid conglomerate of mixed oil (resin) components and wood components. The wood of this kind of fragrant tree itself has no special fragrance, and the wood is relatively soft.

Agarwood, also known as agarwood, "water agarwood", the ancient language is written as "Shenxiang" (Shen, with Shen). According to research, several species of trees of the genus Agarwood in the Ruixiang family include Malayan agarwood tree, Guanxiang tree, Indian agarwood tree, etc., and they can all form agarwood. Generally, the greater the density of agarwood, the more resin condensed, the better its quality, so the ancients often divided agarwood into different grades based on whether it can sink into water.

Those who sink when they enter the water are called "sinking water" incense; secondly, the half-floating and half-sinking ones are called "stack incense" (stack, a thing made of bamboo and wood), also known as paper ("fried") incense, water incense, etc.; Again, the one that enters the water slightly and floats on the surface of the water is called "yellow ripe incense". Due to the natural condensation of agarwood, the size and shape are very different, and the ancients took a lot of interesting names for its characteristics, such as tooth incense (small size, like a horse's teeth), leaf incense (flaked), chicken bone incense (there are gaps inside, like chicken bones), light incense (the appearance is like a dry mountain stone, mostly used for furnishings), water pan head (the volume is very large and the texture is soft), quick temporary incense (before the agarwood is naturally formed) and so on.

Agarwood is not a kind of wood, but a mixture of agarwood and balsam, it is the agarwood tree after being traumatized, coupled with fungal infection, itself will secrete resin to repair the injured part, so it starts the biosynthesis of healing and creating, and after decades or even hundreds of years, it will form rare agarwood balm. And the way agarwood is formed will also be different. Depending on the reason for the incense, agarwood can be divided into four categories:

The first type is "ripening": it is a condensation mainly composed of oil and oil after the death of the tree, when the roots and trunks fall to the ground or sink into the soil, and the wind and rain are blown, and slowly decompose and shrink over the years.

The second type is the "raw knot": it is the incense knot formed by the tree while it is alive. After a deep wound caused by external forces such as slashing with knives and axes, snakes, insects and animal erosion, the agarwood tree will exude resin for self-protection, thus forming incense near the wound.

The third type is "shedding": it is the incense that grows after the branches have decayed.

The fourth type is "insect leakage": incense formed due to the erosion of trees by tree insects, bacteria, etc.

Agarwood is naturally formed. Because such a number is. Very valuable. It's like a golden silk nanmu.