Shilha Berber has a rich vocabulary for the various parts of the fruit, its stages of ripeness, and its harvesting and processing.

In medieval Arabic pharmacological sources, the tree is known as harjān, a distortion of the Berber word argan.

Argan is perfectly adapted to the region's harsh environment, with the ability to survive extreme heat (over 50 °C), drought and poor soil.

The tree's roots grow deep into the ground in search of water, which helps bind soil and prevents erosion.

Their area has shrunk by about half during the last 100 years, due to charcoal making, grazing, increasingly intensive cultivation and the expansion of urban and rural settlements.

[5] The best hope for the conservation of the trees may lie in the recent development of a thriving export market for argan oil as a high-value product.

[8][9][10] The argan tree has played a role in the cultures of the Berber people living there for hundreds of years.

[4][5] In some parts of Morocco, argan takes the place of the olive as a source of forage, oil, timber, and fuel in Berber society.

The most labour-intensive part of oil-extraction is removal of the soft pulp (used to feed animals) and the cracking by hand, between two stones, of the hard nut.

[12] The traditional technique for oil extraction is to grind the roasted seeds to paste, with a little water, in a stone rotary quern.

A dip for bread known as amlou is made from argan oil, almonds, and peanuts, sometimes sweetened by honey or sugar.

[18] On 3 March 2021, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution to proclaim 10 May the International Day of Argania, an observance to be celebrated annually.

The UN resolution was submitted by Morocco, and was co-sponsored by 113 member states of the United Nations before being adopted by consensus.