Gyrinops is a genus of nine species of , called lign aloes or lign-aloes trees, in the family Thymelaeaceae.[ EOL - Gyrinops] They are native to Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and New Guinea.[
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The genus Gyrinops is closely related to Aquilaria and in the past all species were considered to belong to Aquilaria.[Blanchette, Robert A. (2006) "Cultivated Agarwood - Training programs and Research in Papua New Guinea" , Forest Pathology and Wood Microbiology Research Laboratory, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Minnesota]
Agarwood production
Together with Aquilaria the genus is best known as the principal producer of the resin-suffused agarwood.[Barden, Angela (2000) Heart of the Matter: Agarwood Use and Trade and CITES Implementation for Aquilaria malaccensis TRAFFIC International, Cambridge, ][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] The depletion of wild trees from indiscriminate cutting for agarwood has resulted in the trees being listed and protected as an endangered species.[Broad, S. (1995) "Agarwood harvesting in Vietnam" TRAFFIC Bulletin 15:96]
Projects are currently underway in some countries in southeast Asia to infect cultivated trees artificially to produce agarwood in a sustainable manner.[Theresia Sufa, ' Gaharu: Indonesia's endangered fragrant wood', The Jakarta Post, 2 February 2010.]
Species
Nine species are accepted.[
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