Botanical Name

Aquilaria agallocha Roxb.

Family

Thymelaeaceae.

Regional Name

English : Eagle Wood , Hindi : Agar , Sanskrit: Aguru, Lauha, Krimija, Urdu : Ood, Punjabi : Ooda, ooda , Bengali : Agaru, Gujrati : Agar , Kannada : Krishna Agaru , Malayalam : Akil , Marathi : Agar, Tamil : Akilkattai, Telugu : Agaru.

Part Used

Heart Wood.

Discription

Agru is a large evergreen tree growing up to 60 to 80 feet and with thick stem of 3 to 4 ft diameter distributed in North East part of the country in states  like Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Nagaland, and Tripura at altitude of 1500 m above the sea level. It is also found in Bhutan, Myanmar, Sumatra and Malaysia. Agarwood forms as a reaction to fungal or bacterial attack. Trees, ocassionally become infected with a parasite mould secrete a fragrant, protective oil into wounded areas (roots, branches or sections of the trunk), which gradually become harder and dark brown to black. The heartwood (central part of a tree, which is darker in color than the sapwood) is relatively light and pale color before infection. Drug available in cut pieces, dark brown to nearly black; fracture, hard; no characteristic smell and taste.

Phytoconstituents

Essential Oil. It contains agarol (sesquiterpene), aquillochin (couinarinolignan), α- agarofurans, β- agarofurans, agarospirol, jinkohol, jinkohol-eremol, selinene, iso- dihydroagarofuran, kusenol, and dihydroagarofuran.

Ayurvedic Properties

Rasa : Katu, Tikta , Guna : Laghu, Snigdha, Tiksna , Virya : Usna , Vipaka : Katu , Karma : Sirovirecana,Kaphahara, Pittalam, Tvacya, Vatahara.

Ayurvedic Applications

Aksiroga, Svasa, Karna Roga, Kustha, Visa.

Medicinal Uses

It  acts as stimulant, relieves pain, bad odour, skin disorders and inflammation, and in rheumatoid arthritis and osteo arthritis. The wood is used both internally and externally. The paste of wood is applied on skin diseases and headaches. The essential oil obtained by distillation of wood is applied on wounds, ulcers, ringworms and other chronic skin diseases.