The Aquilaria cumingiana Tree: A Little-Documented Oud Species

With this article we conclude the axis of the species of the genus Aquilaria in our botanical guide, and we do that with a species less famous and less documented than its predecessors: Aquilaria cumingiana. For it is a name that appears in the lists of the species of the genus, and its association is mentioned — with reservation — with the Philippines and some of the edges of the east of the Indonesian archipelago and the wider Malesian region, but what is available about it in the literature of oud is much narrower than what is available about the famous species. So what is this species precisely? And where is its distribution mentioned? And what is its standing in the oud trade? And how do we deal with it being little documented and difficult to distinguish? In this article from Oud Treasure we introduce Aquilaria cumingiana a faithful introduction as much as the sources support, and we declare that the scarcity of documentation means the scarcity of what we say, not the abundance of it, so we do not invent a precise geographical range nor dimensions for the tree nor a scent fingerprint nor a superiority in quality to fill the void of knowledge. This is an article from the axes of the botanical guide to the species of oud trees.

1. An overview of Aquilaria cumingiana

Aquilaria cumingiana is one of the species of the genus Aquilaria, the most famous and most widely mentioned among the genera of oud trees, belonging — as the botanical references mention — to the family Thymelaeaceae; and they are tropical evergreen trees that grow in the rainforests. And for whoever wants the expanded introduction to the genus itself before entering into this species, we refer him to what is the Aquilaria tree.

And the binomial scientific name (Aquilaria cumingiana) is composed of the name of the genus Aquilaria and the specific epithet cumingiana. And we take care to write it correctly because it is a name relatively little appearing, and the scarcity of its appearance makes the error in transmitting it easier. And like all oud trees, the wood is in its origin pale, light, and of little scent, and oud does not form in it except in response to a wound or a fungal infection that stimulates the tree to secrete the dark aromatic resin that we call oud.

And what distinguishes this species in our guide is that it is among the least documented species; for what is written about it in the circulated sources of oud is limited, and we prefer to declare this limit rather than fill it with a detail that has no support. And we deliberately do not mention decisive numbers for the height of the tree or the diameter of its trunk; for such measurements vary between the individuals and the environments, and attributing a specific number to the species in general is a defective simplification — and it increases in defectiveness when the species is little documented in the first place. What we say with confidence is that Aquilaria cumingiana is a botanical species standing on its own within the genus Aquilaria, among the trees whose belonging to this oud-producing genus is mentioned.

2. The distribution and the habitat

In terms of the habitat, the sources indicate — with reservation — the association of Aquilaria cumingiana with the Philippines and some of the edges of the east of the Indonesian archipelago and the wider Malesian region (what is known as the Malesian phytogeographic region). And this is a general direction gleaned from the reviews, not a decisive geographical boundary; for the distribution of the species overlaps, and it is difficult to draw precise separating lines, and the difficulty increases when the species is little documented. Therefore we formulate it with the expression "it is mentioned," not with the expression of decisiveness, and we do not establish coordinates or particular boundaries.

And the wider map of the habitats of all the oud trees, and where they grow and why in those regions specifically, we detail it in where oud grows. And we suffice here with saying that what is mentioned about this species places it in the geographical space in which the species of Aquilaria in general are spread in island Southeast Asia and its edges, with our reservation about any determination more precise than that.

And we repeat the note of a fundamental distinction: that the association of the species with a region in the sources does not mean that every oud from that region is Aquilaria cumingiana, nor that this species is confined to it. For the geographical origin is one thing, and the botanical species is another thing, and linking them a decisive linking is a going beyond what the available knowledge supports — and it is a more severe going beyond when the documentation is scarce. Therefore we speak of "an association that is mentioned," not of "an exclusive habitat."

3. Its standing in the oud trade

Aquilaria cumingiana is among the species that do not appear much in the circulated market talk about oud; for it is less famous and less mentioned than the major species such as Aquilaria malaccensis, which is described in what circulates as the most famous classic species. And when we place this species alongside that, the difference becomes clear: one of them is a name firmly established in the literature of oud and its market, and the other is a name that appears in the lists of the species more than it appears in the bulletins of the trade.

And for this we do not describe the scent of Aquilaria cumingiana with a specific fingerprint nor are we decisive about a commercial standing for it; for such descriptions need evidence that is not available by the attribution of a piece to a little-documented species. And the quality in oud is not settled by the botanical species in the first place, but by the origin, the infection, the density of the resin, and the grade, and it varies within the single species a great variation — so how about a species about which what has been published is limited?

So what we say with confidence is that Aquilaria cumingiana is a name established in the botanical classification of the genus Aquilaria, but it is not among the names upon which a wide market reputation is built like that of some of its relatives. And the honesty is that we say this frankly rather than make for it a commercial shine that the sources do not support. And whoever offers you an oud by the name of this species specifically, the more fitting is that you ask about the support of the attribution before you ask about the price.

4. Aquilaria cumingiana and CITES

Aquilaria cumingiana is subject to the framework of international protection that includes the whole genus Aquilaria. For according to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), all the species of the genus — of which is this species — were included in Appendix II of the convention since the year 2004. We attribute this fact to the convention as its source, and we do not ascribe it to ourselves.

And the most famous species Aquilaria malaccensis had been included before that on its own in the year 1995, then the expansion of 2004 came — as the convention mentions — to include the rest of the species of the genus and the entire genus Gyrinops. That is, Aquilaria cumingiana entered the system of protection within this comprehensive expansion in the year 2004, like the rest of the less famous species of the genus. And Appendix II — according to the framework of the convention — regulates the international trade in the species to ensure their survival, it does not prevent it entirely.

And the famous and the obscure of the species are equal in this framework; for the scarcity of the commercial documentation of a species does not remove it from the umbrella of protection as long as it is from the included genus. And the story of the inclusion of oud in CITES and its motives — from the pressure of demand on the wild stock to the efforts to regulate the trade — we addressed in the history of the CITES convention and oud. And the practical benefit is that the trade of the oud of this species across the borders is subject to documentation and regulatory compliance, and that the serious source commits to that.

5. Distinguishing and confusion

Distinguishing Aquilaria cumingiana from its relatives is among the most difficult in this chapter, and it increases in difficulty for two reasons: the closeness of the species of the genus in shape, and the scarcity of what is documented about this species specifically. For the honest truth is that determining the species of the oud tree by the look or the smell alone is not possible with precision; since the species of Aquilaria are close in shape (a clear morphological overlap), and often the oud reaches the market cut and treated far from the mother tree, so the botanical clues that are relied upon in the classification are lost.

And for this it may be confused between Aquilaria cumingiana and other species of the same genus, and an oud is attributed to it — or it is attributed to others — that may not be from it in verification. And the precise distinction needs scientific methods that go beyond the senses: morphological, chemical, and genetic, and all of them are laboratory tools, not market ones. And when the species is little documented, even the comparative references that are relied upon in the verification are few, so the caution becomes more obligatory.

And because the two genera Aquilaria and Gyrinops are siblings difficult to separate as well — and it is a confusion that rises above the confusion of the species within the single genus — we refer whoever wants to understand this difference to the difference between Aquilaria and Gyrinops. And the conclusion is that the botanical certainty in a species like this needs a laboratory, not an impression, and that everyone who is decisive to you that a particular piece is Aquilaria cumingiana without an analysis goes beyond what can be proven.

6. What does this mean for the buyer

With this species we have completed the review of the species of the genus Aquilaria in our guide; for from Aquilaria malaccensis, the most famous, to the least documented species like this species, passing through the continental species Aquilaria crassna. And there remains for the buyer a practical question: does one buy an oud by the name Aquilaria cumingiana? The honest answer: the species is a background, not a buying criterion — and this is true of the obscure species more than it is true of the famous, because verifying it is more difficult.

For the oud that you acquire is judged by its origin, its grade, and its scent, not by a scientific name that is difficult to verify in the first place — especially a little-documented name like this. And the more worthwhile thing is that you rely on what can be verified: from which origin the oud came, and which grade it is, and how you smell it yourself. And this is what we guide you to in how to choose an authentic Indonesian oud. And because the scent is an experience that no scientific name describes, the best thing to start with is a sample by which you test the origin, the grade, and the character directly; we provide for this the samples service.

And with this we fold the page of the species of Aquilaria in this guide, and there remain before us the species of the sibling genus Gyrinops — the other genus that produces oud, and of a special presence in the east of the Indonesian archipelago. So whoever wants to move with us to this genus, let him begin with what is the Gyrinops tree, and the first of its species that we address is the species Gyrinops versteegii, associated with the east of the Indonesian archipelago. And for the more comprehensive picture among the oud trees and their species, return to the botanical guide to the species of oud trees.