Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
What is Aquilaria sinensis? It is the tree that gives Chinese agarwood, known as chen xiang. The part used is not plain wood.
It is heartwood soaked in dark, fragrant resin after the tree is wounded or infected by mould.
Healthy trees do not make this resin. Only a small share of wild trees ever form it. That scarcity makes true agarwood one of the costliest plant products in the world, and fakes are common.
In Chinese medicine the resinous wood was used in small amounts for the stomach, breathing and calm. It is also burned as incense and distilled into oud oil for perfume.
Here is the honest verdict on evidence. Long traditional use is not proof that something works, and it is not proof that it is safe. For this plant we found no human trials that would settle either question.
Most of what is published is laboratory and animal work. That work is interesting, but it cannot tell you what a dose will do in your body.
How is it thought to work? The short answer is that nobody has shown how it works in people.
In mice, extracts of the resinous wood have had a calming effect and reduced movement. Some animal work also points to slower or steadier gut movement. These are animal findings, not proven human effects.
In cell and test-tube studies, certain chromones and sesquiterpenes from the wood appear to damp inflammation signals. Leaf extracts have lowered blood sugar in diabetic rodents. Whether any of this happens at a normal human dose is not established.
The smell itself may do some of the work people notice. Scent can shift mood and alertness, and that effect is hard to separate from the plant's chemistry.
What forms is it sold in? Several, and they are not interchangeable.
- Wood chips or slivers, burned as incense. - Powdered resinous wood, used in traditional Chinese formulas. - Agarwood (oud) essential oil, made for perfume use.
- Leaf tea, sold loose or in bags; the leaves are not the resin. - Capsules and tinctures from supplement sellers.
The leaf and the resin wood are different products with different chemistry. A leaf tea is not a source of agarwood resin.
In traditional practice the powdered wood was rarely used alone. It was a small part of a mixed formula, often added late so the aroma was not boiled away.
Where does it come from? Chinese medical texts have listed chen xiang for well over a thousand years, and the trade is older still.
It was classed as a warming, sinking, aromatic herb. Practitioners used it in small amounts for stomach cold and pain, for hiccups and vomiting, and for breathing that felt short or tight. It also appears in calming formulas.
The same wood carried heavy religious and social weight. It was burned in Buddhist, Taoist and Islamic practice, given as tribute, and traded along routes from Vietnam and southern China.
Wild Aquilaria sinensis is now scarce and protected, and most supply comes from plantations with induced resin. None of this history tells you what the wood does in a body.
Stop and see a doctor if you get a rash, swelling, wheeze or trouble breathing after using it.
Get medical help the same day for stomach pain that keeps getting worse, vomiting you cannot stop, or vomit that looks bloody or like coffee grounds.
Go to an emergency department if someone swallows agarwood essential oil, or if you feel very drowsy and confused after mixing it with sedatives.
Book a normal appointment if nausea, constipation or breathlessness lasts more than two weeks.
Aquilaria sinensis is listed under CITES Appendix II, so trade across borders is controlled. Many countries require permits for the wood, chips and oil.
In the United States and the United Kingdom it is sold as a supplement, incense or perfume material, not as an approved medicine. Supplements are not checked for strength or purity before sale.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
What it is typically used for, usual dose, cautions, and the study behind it where real trial data exists.
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