There are also several extremely valuable soft timbers, the principal being red cedar (Cedrela Toona), silky oak (Grevillea robusta), beech and a variety of teak, with several important species of pine.
The sal, Shorea robusta, a very durable wood, is most abundant along the skirts of the Himalaya from Assam to the Punjab, and is found in central India, to which the teak also extends.
The most important timber trees are the tu'n (Cedrela Toona), sdl (Shorea robusta), the present area of which forms two belts separated by the Gangetic plain; satin wood (Chloroxylon Swietenia), common in the drier parts of the peninsula; sandalwood, especially characteristic of Mysore; iron-wood (Mesua ferrea), and teak (Tectona grandis).
A large part of the area is still covered with forest, the most valuable timber-tree being sal (Shorea robusta).
Sal (Shorea robusta) is the chief timber tree.