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Natural Vegetation and Biomes of India

India’s plant cover changes dramatically from coast to coast, and from plain to mountain — mostly because of one factor: rainfall.

Tropical deciduous forest, Gir Forest, Gujarat. Photo: RiddhiParmar via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Biogeographic zones of the Indian subcontinent. Map: Asif N. Khan via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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IndGeo0006 · Indian Geography

Five vegetation types, shaped mostly by one factor: rainfall

Tropical Evergreen

Over 200 cm rainfall. Western Ghats, north-east, Andaman & Nicobar.

Tropical Deciduous

70–200 cm rainfall. India’s most widespread forest type.

Tropical Thorn

Under 70 cm rainfall. Found across Rajasthan and Gujarat.

Mangrove

Tidal coastlines. The Sundarbans is the world’s largest example.

Montane

Changes with Himalayan altitude, sub-tropical to alpine.

More Than Just Tree Cover

A “biome” describes a whole ecological community shaped by climate — vegetation type is just one visible marker of a much larger system.

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📑 Contents

India’s natural vegetation splits into distinct types, shaped mainly by rainfall and temperature.
Tropical evergreen forests need over 200 cm of rain a year. They grow in the Western Ghats, the north-east, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Tropical deciduous, or monsoon, forests are India’s most widespread type. They grow with 70–200 cm of rainfall.
Tropical thorn forests grow in dry regions like Rajasthan and Gujarat, with under 70 cm of rainfall.
Mangrove forests grow along tidal coastlines. The Sundari tree gives the Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest, its name.

Montane forests change with altitude in the Himalayas, moving from sub-tropical species at lower elevations to alpine vegetation near the treeline.
Madhya Pradesh has India’s largest forest cover by area, at 77,073 sq km, followed by Arunachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. (Source: Drishti IAS, India State of Forest Report 2023)
India’s total forest cover stands at about 21.76% of its geographical area, per the Forest Survey of India. (Source: Drishti IAS, India State of Forest Report 2023)

A “biome” describes a whole ecological community shaped by climate, not just tree cover. Vegetation type is just one visible marker of a much larger system.
India’s vegetation zones roughly track its rainfall gradient, from the wet evergreen west coast to the dry thorn forests of the northwest.
Forest type distribution directly shapes regional biodiversity, water cycles, and even traditional livelihoods across India’s different states.