Teak

Where it grows

Teak is native to the seasonally dry monsoon forests of India, Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand. Old-growth teak forests once covered enormous areas of the subcontinent and Southeast Asia, but commercial logging has reduced wild stands to a fraction of their original extent. Plantations now grow teak across the tropics, including Central America and Africa.

How to recognise it

Teak’s leaves are enormous — among the largest of any major timber tree — almost a metre long on young trees and rough as sandpaper to the touch. When crushed they yield a yellowish-red dye. The bark is grey-brown and shallowly fissured, and small white flowers form pyramidal terminal panicles before the trees go briefly leafless in dry season.

Uses

Teak is rich in natural oils that make the heartwood self-protecting against rot, termites, and seawater. Wooden ships of the East India Company, the Burmese royal palace, and the deck of every classic yacht all rely on it. Modern plantation teak supplies high-end garden furniture and decking.

Conservation

Wild stands are protected in places like Myanmar’s reserves, but illegal logging continues; CITES Appendix II now restricts trade in some populations.