# Teak (Tectona grandis)

> The world's premier tropical hardwood, a deciduous tree exceeding 30 m (45 m in old stands) with a fluted, buttressed bole, huge rough leaves and sprays of small white flowers. Teak is planted in plantations and on farm boundaries across India, South-East Asia, Africa and Latin America on an 80-year rotation (much shorter in farm forestry), and its durable, oily timber resists termites and marine borers. It sheds leaves for three to four months in the dry season and demands full sun.

Source: https://treerm.org/trees/tectona-grandis · Updated 2026-11-08 · License CC BY 4.0

## Facts

- Also called: Sagwan, Sagun, Kyun
- Family: Lamiaceae
- Type: Broadleaf, loses its leaves in winter
- Mature height: 35 m; spread 15 m
- Growth: Fast growing; lives about 200 years
- USDA hardiness zones: 10 to 12
- Light: Full sun
- Water: Moderate water
- Soil: Deep, well-drained, fertile alluvial-colluvial soil of pH 6.5-8 with good calcium; poor on shallow, waterlogged or very acid soils
- Native range: Native to India, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand (and per WCVP Bangladesh, Cambodia and Vietnam); Indonesian (Java) teak is treated as native by ICRAF and as an ancient introduction by WCVP.

**Benefits:** Long lived, Shade, Stores carbon well, Pollinators, Fast canopy

**Good for:** Timber, Agroforestry, Reforestation, parks

**Watch out for:** Heavy litter, Large roots

## Care

Plant stumps or seedlings at 2 x 2 m at the start of the rains; weed and protect from fire and grazing for three years. Thin at 5, 10, 18 and 28 years. Early growth is rapid (13 m in five years) then slows after 15 to 20 years. Teak defoliator and skeletoniser moths, bee-hole borers and bacterial wilt in young plants are the main pests. Pure stands erode soil, so mix with indigenous species.

## Where it stands

- **Native:** Indonesia (Java; native per ICRAF, introduced per WCVP); India (Central and peninsular India); Laos; Myanmar (Burma); Thailand
- **Adapted:** Brazil (Plantations; exotic per ICRAF); Costa Rica (Major plantation species; introduced per WCVP); Nigeria (Plantations; exotic per ICRAF); Panama (Plantations; introduced per WCVP); Tanzania (Plantations; exotic per ICRAF)

## Sources

- https://apps.worldagroforestry.org/treedb2/speciesprofile.php?Spid=1603
- https://apps.worldagroforestry.org/treedb/AFTPDFS/Tectona_grandis.PDF
- https://www.gbif.org/species/2925649
- https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=287459