Perfume is not poisonous, but the most expensive perfume must contain the lives of countless agarwood trees. Most of the precious perfumes produced in France and other countries are inseparable from agarwood. Although its content is small, it is indispensable and plays a role in stabilizing fragrance. Recently, in Cambodia, which is rich in wood in Southeast Asia, the Global Times reporter learned how the agarwood tree encountered that kind of "bump" when it emitted a unique fragrance.

In Cambodia, a businessman took out some Xiao Mu granules from a small pocket and told reporters that it was "pure natural chewing gum". The reporter put it in his mouth and tasted it. The taste is slightly bitter, but it has a special aroma, which gives people the feeling of quenching thirst. After careful inquiry, it turns out that "pure natural chewing gum" is a small piece cut from a high-quality Daphne plant. Daphne is not wood, but resin condensate secreted by agarwood after it is "injured". There is nothing special about agarwood that grows in the tropical rain forest all the year round. The leaves look like peach leaves. Healthy agarwood will not produce Daphne family. Only after being destroyed by lightning, eaten by wild boar or artificially cut down, will resin flow out and condense to form Daphne family. I'm afraid even agarwood itself wouldn't have thought that its scars have been sought after by human beings for thousands of years.

Chinese temples in Cambodia will use Daphne in important Buddhist festivals, mainly burning incense, which they believe is connected with the gods and buddhas. In East and Southeast Asian countries, Daphne is not only used for carving Buddha statues, making rosary beads or offering incense, but also used as medicine. During the Tang and Song Dynasties in China, there was a saying in China and Southeast Asia that "ten thousand yuan agarwood is the top grade". In modern times, agarwood has mainly become an ornamental or plaything for the rich, and there is always a distance from the public. Perhaps it is this high-end demand that makes the business of Daphne odora, like the trade between Huang Huali and other tree species, become an endangered plant trade, rather than an ordinary trade. Locals say that wild agarwood is too hard to find, and it can only be found in the inaccessible jungle. During the civil strife in Cambodia, a large number of mines were often buried in these places, and it was necessary to find someone to clear them. The price of a wild agarwood tree embraced by two or three people is as high as $65,438+million. The best Daphne odora, known as "Qinan", can be sold for up to $0/80 per gram/kloc, which is three times the price of gold. In Cambodia, there are Europeans, Arabs, China and Japanese wandering in the agarwood market. The reporter was invited to visit the home of a Cambodian timber merchant. When he saw his collection of more than a dozen Daphne plants that were more than half a meter high, he didn't have to look at the others. This in itself is a great wealth.

Daphne odora is known as the "diamond in plants", but its elegant and pleasant aroma has not been artificially synthesized. In order to earn a bucket of gold, people who do agarwood business in Cambodia began to grow agarwood artificially. There are many agarwood trees planted in an agarwood refinery in Shizhu Province, 70 kilometers south of Phnom Penh. After a tree seedling grows for 5 years, it is necessary to start the journey of ending life, so as to leave fragrance to the world. Hundreds of nails will be driven into the tree of Aquilaria sinensis from bottom to top. Eight months later, because the central pipeline conveying nutrition was destroyed, the Aquilaria sinensis tree began to wither and die, and the resin from the injured part also condensed into Daphne.

After crushing Daphne, it should be fermented in vats for 8 days, and then distilled in a steamer. After 8 to 10 days, the distilled agarwood oil will be separated, and the general agarwood oil will float on it and sink well. There are more than 20 steamers in two rows in the agarwood refinery, which distill day and night, and the finished product extracted in one month is only 1000 ml. A small bottle of nail polish-sized agarwood oil can be sold for more than 100 dollars. The enthusiastic host gently ordered a drop of agarwood oil on the back of the reporter's hand. Unexpectedly, its unique elegant fragrance lasted from morning to evening. If necessary, the item is supreme. There are all kinds of agarwood there. There's always something you like, isn't there?