Saturday, September 14, 2013

Aquilaria malaccensis in Malaysia

The first agarwood-producing species to be included in Appendix II of CITES was Aquilaria malaccensis in 1995. This species is the most common Aquilaria species found throughout in Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah (Whitmore, 1973; Cockburn, 1980). The species is widespread however it does not appear to occur at particularly high stocking densities (see ‘Conservation status in Malaysia’, below).

However, there has been some historical uncertainty as to whether A. malaccensis is found in Sarawak. Browne (1955) noted that several species of Aquilaria had been recorded in Sarawak and probably all were known in the local dialect as gaharu mengkaras. He added that in most parts of Sarawak the double name was used for the trees, whether they contained the scented wood or not. The trees were of the lowland forests where they were “not uncommon but by no means abundant”. He speculated that the most important Aquilaria species in Sarawak was probably A. malaccensis, but added that it was difficult to identify trees to the species level as they were rarely seen in flower or fruit.

On the basis of limited herbarium collections, Anderson (1980) thought A. malaccensis to be present, but very rare in Sarawak. Only a single herbarium specimen of A. malaccensis was recorded as coming from Bt. Mentagai, Marudi, Sarawak (South East Asia Botanical Collection Information Network (SEABCIN) <herbaria.plants.ox.ac.uk> downloaded 4 September 2005). However, this specimen has subsequently been determined by Tawan (2004) to be Aquilaria beccariana (Forest Department, Sarawak, Herbarium Specimen No. “S 23015” viewed by LTW on 16 February 2006. Forest Research Centre, Sarawak Forestry Corporation, Kuching, Sarawak).