Gyrinops is a genus of nine species of trees, called lign aloes or lign-aloes trees, in the family Thymelaeaceae.[2] They are native to Southeast Asia, the Indian Subcontinent, and New Guinea.[1]

Gyrinops
Leaves of Gyrinops walla
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Malvales
Family: Thymelaeaceae
Subfamily: Thymelaeoideae
Genus: Gyrinops
Gaertn. (1791)
Species[1]

9; see text

Synonyms[1]
  • Brachythalamus Gilg (1899)
  • Lachnolepis Miq. (1863)

The genus Gyrinops is closely related to Aquilaria and in the past all species were considered to belong to Aquilaria.[3]

Agarwood production

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Together with Aquilaria the genus is best known as the principal producer of the resin-suffused agarwood.[4][5] The depletion of wild trees from indiscriminate cutting for agarwood has resulted in the trees being listed and protected as an endangered species.[6][5][4]

Projects are currently underway in some countries in southeast Asia to infect cultivated trees artificially to produce agarwood in a sustainable manner.[6] In Indonesia, for example, there have been proposals to encourage the planting of gahara, as it is known as locally, in eastern Indonesia, particularly in the province of Papua.[7]

Species

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Nine species are accepted.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Gyrinops Gaertn". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 16 September 2024.
  2. ^ EOL - Gyrinops
  3. ^ Blanchette, Robert A. (2006) "Cultivated Agarwood - Training programs and Research in Papua New Guinea" Archived 2017-07-18 at the Wayback Machine, Forest Pathology and Wood Microbiology Research Laboratory, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Minnesota
  4. ^ a b Barden, Angela (2000) Heart of the Matter: Agarwood Use and Trade and CITES Implementation for Aquilaria malaccensis TRAFFIC International, Cambridge, ISBN 1-85850-177-6
  5. ^ a b Ng, L.T., Chang Y.S. and Kadir, A.A. (1997) "A review on agar (gaharu) producing Aquilaria species" Journal of Tropical Forest Products 2(2): pp. 272-285
  6. ^ a b Broad, S. (1995) "Agarwood harvesting in Vietnam" TRAFFIC Bulletin 15:96
  7. ^ Theresia Sufa, 'Gaharu: Indonesia's endangered fragrant wood', The Jakarta Post, 2 February 2010.