Tropical Deciduous Forests

Trees in these forests shed their leaves once in a year. These are most widespread forests of India. These forests are found in the areas receiving annual rainfall between 75 to 200 cm.

They are found in the entire country excluding some parts of Deccan Plateau, North-Eastern Region, Western Ghats and Eastern coast. On the basis of the availability of rainfall these forests are further divided into moist deciduous and dry deciduous.

Moist Deciduous Forests

The moist deciduous forestsare found in the areas of rainfall between 100 to 200 cm. These are distributed mainly in the eastern parts of the country, Northeastern states along the foothills of Himalayas, Jharkhand, Odisha and Chhattisgarh, and eastern slopes of Western Ghats. Teak, Bamboo, Sal, Shisham, Sandalwood, Khair , Kusum, Arjun, Mahua, Jamun and Mulberry are the important speciesof trees found in these forests.

Dry Deciduous Forests

The dry deciduous forestsare spread in the areas receiving annual rainfall between 75 to 100 cmsannually. These forests are found in the interior parts of the Peninsular plateau and the plains of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. Tree species of these forest are Teak, Sal, Peepal, and Neem.