What is the difference between agarwood and sandalwood?

Aquilaria sinensis and Sandalwood are different in essence, not the same substance. Simply put, agarwood is balsam and sandalwood is fragrant wood.

Fragrance:

Aquilaria sinensis is a scar of Aquilaria sinensis, which is self-healing after lesion and injury. It is mixed with oil and wood. According to the degree of fragrance, there will be more oil than wood. Sandalwood, on the other hand, will secrete glandular fat liquid with fragrance when the tree is an adult, so the whole tree will have fragrance, which is a veritable fragrant wood.

Aroma:

The aroma of Aquilaria sinensis belongs to dark fragrance, which can only be smelled slowly when the surrounding environment changes, and the aroma is relatively faint, which will not bring strong stimulation to the senses. The fragrance of sandalwood belongs to Ming Xiang, rich and tangy, and obviously easy to smell. In terms of feeling, the fragrance of agarwood always seeps into the heart and lungs unconsciously, which is quite artistic, while sandalwood is "passionate", which makes people immersed in the overflowing fragrance all the time.

Fragrant medicine:

Due to the light and dark properties of the aroma of Aquilaria sinensis and Sandalwood in traditional Chinese medicine, elegant Aquilaria sinensis can be calm and calm. Sandalwood has certain stimulation to the body, although it can also soothe the nerves and calm down, but it should not be heard for a long time, otherwise it will consume qi and blood, so agarwood is more suitable for long-term use.

Usage:

In incense, both Aquilaria sinensis and Sandalwood can be tasted separately or combined, but in practice, Sandalwood is more used in combination with other spices. Aquilaria sinensis is the fragrant material for high-grade incense mats. In Japanese incense, a qualified perfumer should not only distinguish the agarwood from different producing areas, but also judge which part of the agarwood is according to the characteristics of incense rhyme. It often takes several years to master these.

Plant characteristics of Aquilaria sinensis

Arbor, 5-15m high, dark gray bark, almost smooth and tough fiber; Branchlets cylindrical, crepe, puberulent when young, then gradually shed, glabrous or subglabrous.

The leaves are leathery, round, oval to oblong, sometimes nearly obovate, 5-9 cm long and 2.8-6 cm wide, with acute or acute tips, broad wedge-shaped base, dark green or purplish green above, bright, light green below, hairless on both sides, 15-2 lateral veins on each side, more obvious below, and slender and nearly parallel veinlets.

the petiole is about 5-7 mm long and hairy. Flowers are fragrant, yellow-green, and many flowers form umbels; Pedicel 5-6 mm long, densely yellow-gray pubescent; Calyx tube shallow bell-shaped, 5-6 mm long, densely pubescent on both sides, 5-lobed, lobes ovate, 4-5 mm long, apex obtuse or acute, pubescent on both sides;

Petals 1, scaly, inserted in the throat of calyx tube, densely hairy; Stamens 1, arranged in 1 round, filaments about 1 mm long, anthers oblong, about 4 mm long; Ovary ovoid, densely covered with gray hairs, 2-loculed, 1 ovule per locule, extremely short or absent style, and capitate stigma.

The fruit stalk of the capsule is short, ovoid, green when it is young, 2-3 cm long, 2 cm in diameter, with a short tip at the top, tapering at the base, densely yellow pubescent, 2-valved, 2-celled, with 1 seed in each cell, brown, ovoid, about 1 cm long, about 5.5 mm wide, sparsely pilose, with appendages at the base. Flowering in spring and summer, fruit in summer and autumn.

resources

agarwood (medicinal material) _ Baidu Encyclopedia