Which Parts of the Tree May Contain Oud?

A question that recurs for whoever begins to understand oud: if the whole tree is of the producing family, is all its wood oud? The short answer: no. Oud — that is, the wood saturated with resin — does not distribute in the tree evenly, but tends to concentrate around the sites of injury, wound, and infection, especially in the trunk, and sometimes in the large branches, and rarely in the roots. As for the healthy, uninjured wood, it is usually devoid of resin of value. In this article we clarify where oud may be found within the tree, with caution and reservation, and without claiming a precise distribution or numerical proportions for each part.

1. Oud does not fill the whole tree

The first thing that ought to be corrected in the mind is that oud is not a trait that pervades the whole tree the way pine wood pervades its trunk or oak wood its stem. Oud is an exceptional state incidental to the wood: tissues that the resin saturated after they were subjected to an injury or infection. And because the injury is localized by its nature, the resin concentrates mostly around the sites of injury, not in the whole tree.

This accords directly with what we explained in how oud forms and with the role of wounds in resin formation: the wound or the infection opens the door of the defensive response, and the tree builds the resin in the vicinity of the injured site to isolate the damage and limit its spread. So where the injury occurred the resin gathers, and where the wood remained sound it stays pale, light, and of little aromatic value.

This is why whoever imagines that a single tree gives a mass of oud its own size is mistaken. The reality is that the saturated part may be a small proportion of the whole mass of the wood, confined to particular ranges. And what we say here is a description of a general tendency, not a strict law; for the sites of injury differ from one tree to another according to what it was subjected to, and therefore the place of the resin and its amount vary greatly.

2. The trunk around the sites of injury

The trunk — that is, the main stem of the tree — is the part most associated with oud in what is circulated and observed. The trunk is the largest of the tree's parts in mass and the longest-lived, and it is the one exposed to the major wounds: breaks from storms, or splits from lightning, or borings from insects, or harm from animals. And around these sites in the depth of the pith wood (the heartwood) the resin tends to gather with the passage of time.

What is observed generally — with reservation — is that the wood close to the injury in the trunk may carry the highest concentration of resin when enough time extends for the tree to build its defense and accumulate it layer upon layer. This is why the dark, heavy, sunken ranges in the trunks of injured trees are often what whoever extracts oud searches for.

But we do not claim that the whole trunk is oud, nor that every injured trunk carries abundant resin. The matter depends on the site of the injury and its extent, on the response of the tree, and on time. Therefore we speak of ranges around the sites of injury within the trunk, not of the trunk as a homogeneous mass of oud. This is the general tendency as the observation points to it, without numbers we would claim.

3. The branches and the offshoots

The formation of oud is not confined to the trunk; the large branches and offshoots may carry resin as well, especially when they too are subjected to a break or a wound or an infection. The principle is one wherever it occurs: where the living wood is injured, the defensive response may be set off and the resin accumulate around the site.

It is observed generally that the branches are smaller in mass and shorter-lived than the trunk for the most part, and therefore what they carry of resin tends to be smaller in size and less extensive than what may be found in an injured trunk over the course of years. But this is a general tendency, not a constant rule; a branch that was injured with a fortunate injury in favorable conditions may carry resin of value, for the lesson is in what happened to the part, not in its location alone.

We are keen on reservation here, so we do not claim that the branches give a particular proportion, or that they are always lower than the trunk or higher. All we say is that the branches are among the parts that may contain oud when they are injured, and that estimating what is in them remains a matter that differs from one tree to another and from one branch to another.

4. The roots sometimes

Some of what is circulated holds that the roots may carry resin in certain cases, especially if they were subjected to an injury or pressure or infection. We present this as a mentioned possibility, not a truth of confirmed scope, because its documentation is less than that of the trunk, and taking oud from the roots is less common in what is observed.

This possibility accords in principle with the understanding of formation: as long as the resin is a response to injury wherever it occurs in the living wood, there is nothing to prevent it from forming in the tissue of the injured root. Yet extracting oud from the roots requires uprooting the tree or digging it out, which is a heavier and less customary matter, and therefore it is not relied upon as a main source.

We affirm the reservation: we say "sometimes" deliberately. The roots are not a customary site for oud like the trunk, and we cannot claim how much they carry nor how often that recurs. It suffices to mention that they are among the parts in which the resin may be found in a less constant manner, without exaggeration nor fabricated numbers.

5. Healthy wood is usually devoid

In contrast to the sites of injury stands the healthy, uninjured wood: it is what predominates in the body of the tree, and it is usually devoid of resin of value. This wood is pale in color, light in weight, of little fragrance, and is not reckoned oud in the intended sense even though it is from the same tree and from the producing family. For the existence of the tree is one thing, and the saturation of its wood with resin is another.

Here it becomes clear what oud resin actually is: it is what makes the difference between ordinary wood and precious oud. The resin is what earns the wood its dark color, its weight, its density, and its scent upon heating. And where the resin is absent, the wood remains in its original state, whatever family the tree may be of.

From here it is also understood why the resin varies not only between the parts of a single tree, but why the resin differs between two trees of the same family: the injury and its conditions, the time, and the genetics of the tree are all factors that make the result individual and unpredictable. Therefore it is not valid for wood to be gauged against wood merely because they are from a producing tree.

6. Why sorting and extraction is a skill

If the resin does not pervade the tree but concentrates in scattered ranges around the sites of injury, it is easy to understand why the extraction of oud and its sorting is a skilled work, not a mere cutting of the tree. Whoever extracts oud needs to read the tree: where the injury is likely to be, where the dark, heavy wood may lie hidden, and how to separate it from the pale wood surrounding it without wasting the precious pieces.

This skill explains an aspect of oud's value and its rarity. The extractors of oud search for the saturated ranges within a large mass of wood, most of which carries no resin worth mentioning, then comes the sorting to separate the dark, sunken from the pale, light, and to classify what is worthy according to its density and its scent. It is a work that rests upon experience and sense more than it rests upon a mechanical rule.

And because the matter is thus, knowing where oud comes from and how it is selected is part of the trust in what you buy. We presented our supply regions and how we deal with our sources in oud sources and supply regions. Understanding that oud is scattered ranges selected with skill, not a mass that is cut, helps you appreciate the reason for the limitedness of quantities and the variation of pieces.

7. What this means for the buyer

The most important thing the buyer emerges with from this understanding is that the limitedness of production and the variation of pieces is natural, not a defect. As long as oud concentrates in particular ranges of the tree, and is selected by sorting from a mass most of which is without resin, it is to be expected that the quantities be limited and that the pieces differ one from another in color, density, and scent. This is a variation rooted in the nature of oud, not evidence of a deficiency in the goods.

Therefore the purchase decision is not built upon the location of the piece in the tree — whether it is from a trunk or from a branch — for this alone does not tell you of its quality. What is relied upon is what can actually be tested: the origin, the grade, the density, the scent upon heating, and the cleanliness from filling and manipulation. We detailed these criteria in how to choose authentic Indonesian oud.

And the truest test remains direct experience. This is why we have provided at Oud Treasure small samples that allow you to test the weight, the density, and the scent in reality before committing to a quantity, which you find on the oud samples page. For what you have learned here about the parts of the tree is completed when you judge the piece itself with your senses, not when you ask about its location in the tree.