Conservation status
The species is chiefly distributed in South China including Hong Kong. However, owing to the intensive use of the species, wild populations outside Hong Kong have become rare and large trees are also uncommon. The 2000 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants published by The World Conservation Union (IUCN) listed the threat status of Aquilaria sinensis as vulnerable. Regarding its conservation status, the plant is considered “an important source of medicine” and is “restricted to Jinghong in Yunnan, Guangdong including Hainan Island and Guangxi” (i.e. endemic to China). It is “mainly found in semi-evergreen monsoon forest up to altitudes of 400 m”. There is concern over the rates of exploitation and the damage to trees incurred during the harvesting of the medicinal balm. Habitat loss and clearance are also frequent (Oldfield et al., 1998). Aquilaria species are also regulated under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

In mainland China, the species is listed as a category II protected plant in the “List of Wild Plants under State Protection” (1999), part of the Chinese legislation promulgated by the State Council. It is considered vulnerable in the China Plant Red Data Book, as it has become depleted due to severe damage of trees caused by indiscriminate collection of the balm used in Chinese medicine (China National Environmental Protection Agency & Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1992).

A recent book, Rare and Endangered Plants in Guangdong Province (South China Institute of Botany & Wild Animal and Plants Protection Office of Guangdong Province, 2003) reported that in Guangdong province over-exploitation and over-cutting of numerous large trees of the species have made it rare and threatened. Due to its conservation status in Mainland China, the species is also considered precious in Hong Kong, and it has been included in the book Rare and Precious Plants of Hong Kong (South China Institute of Botany & AFCD, 2003).