The Central Deccan Plateau dry deciduous forests stretch across the central and southern Deccan Plateau of peninsular India, lying mostly within Maharashtra and Telangana and reaching into Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Andhra Pradesh. Unlike the teak and sal forests elsewhere on the plateau, these woodlands are characteristically dominated by Hardwickia binata and Albizia amara, with companion trees such as Boswellia serrata, Anogeissus latifolia, and Acacia catechu beneath a canopy of roughly fifteen to twenty-five meters. The climate is strongly seasonal: the Hardwickia trees drop their leaves through the winter dry season and flush again in April, and the western reaches sit in the rain shadow of the Western Ghats. The forests still shelter Bengal tigers, dholes, sloth bears, gaur, and blackbuck, along with around 300 recorded bird species, among them the globally threatened Jerdon's courser, an India-endemic nightbird rediscovered in 1986 after being feared extinct. Much of the ecoregion has been cleared, however, and it is classed as critical or endangered, so gardeners drawing on its hardy natives, including the frankincense tree Boswellia and drought-tolerant Albizia, are working with plants adapted to a long, pronounced dry season.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 18.8°N, 78.4°E.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
12b-13b
Plotwright
CHELSA-derived typical winter month at this ecoregion's bbox grid.
Projected (2041–2070)
13a-13b
Plotwright
Where the CHELSA models say the typical winter month is heading.
Average warming this ecoregion is on track for: +3.9°F by mid-century. SSP3-7.0 (current trajectory) · CHELSA v2.1 bio06 sampled across 10 of 10 points within this ecoregion's bounding box.
At a glance
Dominant biome
Tropical & Subtropical Dry Broadleaf Forests
Realm
Indomalayan
Approximate area
92,752 sq mi
Conservation tier
Nature Imperiled (Dinerstein NNH 4)
About the tropical & subtropical dry broadleaf forests biome
Tropical forests that pass through a pronounced dry season, when many trees drop their leaves to conserve water. They hold high biodiversity but are among the most threatened tropical habitats, sensitive to fire and to clearing for agriculture.
Catalog plants suited to this ecoregion
Computed from each plant's stated USDA zone range against this ecoregion's CHELSA-derived current zone range, with the CHELSA mid-century warming delta applied for the projection. Plants whose stated range falls outside both the current and projected zone end up dropped; the rest land in one of the three buckets below.
Currently suited · 4
These plants fit the ecoregion as it is today, but the mid-century projection moves them outside their stated zone range — plan for them to struggle by 2070.
No curated collection's plants all fit this ecoregion's zone range. We surface a collection only when every member would grow here — partial fits get filtered out rather than mislead. As the catalog and the curated set both grow, this section will fill in.
Related ecoregions
Other tropical & subtropical dry broadleaf forests ecoregions to explore: