Finding the Tree: The First Step in the Journey of Oud

The whole long journey of oud — with its twenty steps — begins from a single moment: finding the resin-bearing tree. For before extraction, cleaning, sorting, and shipping, one must first find the few trees that have formed oud among thousands of sound trees. In this article we address this first step as the foundation of the entire journey: how the tree is found, why it is rarer than one thinks, and how it paves the way for what follows.

Why does everything begin with finding the tree?

There is no oud without a tree, and no useful tree without first finding it. For the first step in the journey of oud is not extraction, as one might think, but searching for and finding the tree that has actually formed the resin. And this step governs all that follows: the quality of the piece, its grade, and its final worth all begin with the type of tree found and its condition.

And finding the tree is work done by harvesters and seekers from the people of the forest regions, who read the forest with an inherited experience. We have detailed their whole world in the guide the journey of oud harvesters in the forests of Indonesia; and here we address finding as the first link in the piece's journey to your majlis.

How is the bearing tree found?

Finding begins by determining the region in which the resin-bearing trees are likely to be, then the careful search for trees of the oud-producing genus — chiefly Aquilaria and Gyrinops — then reading the signs that may indicate the presence of resin within them: a deformation in the trunk, a trace of old injury, or a localized change of color. We have devoted a standalone article to these signs in the signs of the presence of resin.

And oud does not form in every tree, but arises in response to an injury that drives the wood to secrete the dark resin, as we explained in the science of oud formation. So knowing the type of tree is not enough; one must distinguish the injured tree that may bear oud from its sound neighbor — a distinction only an expert whose eye is trained upon it can master.

Rarity: one tree among thousands

The most defining thing about the finding step is that it is a step of rarity. For oud forms only in a tiny proportion of trees, and the seeker may walk for hours, indeed days, among many trees, most of which bear nothing. And this rarity in the source is the first of the reasons for oud's worth: what is rare to find at its origin becomes dear when it reaches you.

And this rarity also explains why local knowledge remains the most precious thing in the chain. For the ability to shorten this long search — by knowing where the trees are likely to be and how to read their signs — is what makes finding possible at all amid this vastness.

Finding is a prelude to extraction

When the seeker finds a tree whose signs suggest the presence of oud, the task of finding ends and the next task begins: extracting the resin-bearing wood. For finding does not necessarily mean cutting the tree, but rather identifying it and estimating the likelihood of its bearing resin before beginning the careful extraction. And this separation between finding and extraction is important: for a tree may be left for further years if its injury has not yet matured.

And thus finding the tree is the cornerstone upon which the rest of the journey rests. And in the following axis of this journey we move to the second step: extracting the resin-bearing wood from the tree after it is found.