‘Agarwood’ or ‘Gaharu’ is the trade name of a resinous product obtained from infected trees, particularly the genus Aquilaria Lam. and Gyrinops Gaertn. Though a few more genera under the family Thymelaeaceae produce ‘Gaharu', the quality of ‘Gaharu’ from these genera is not good and not very marketable.
In India, 2 species of Aquilaria, viz. Aquilaria khasiana Hallier f. (Assam and Meghalaya) and Aquilaria malaccensis Lam. (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura, and West Bengal) are known to occur in the wild. Whereas, Gyrinops is represented by one species, i.e., Gyrinops walla Gaertn. (Kerala and Tamil Nadu). The National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) notified Aquilaria malaccensis as a species on the verge of extinction in Mizoram [S.O. 2524(E), dated 30th September 2009] and A. khasiana as a species on the verge of extinction in Meghalaya [S.O. 2526(E), dated 30th September 2009] under the provisions of Biological Diversity Act, 2002.
