Which is the main forest type in Jammu and Kashmir?

In ISFR 2023, the biggest single entry in Jammu and Kashmir's forest type table is western mixed coniferous forest of spruce, blue pine and silver fir. It covers 3,557.18 km², or 13.59% of the mapped area. Lower or Siwalik chir pine forest comes next among the forest types, with 2,609.06 km².

Are Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh the same region?

No. Since 31 October 2019, they have been two separate union territories, according to the Ministry of Home Affairs. Ladakh consists of the Kargil and Leh districts, and the rest of the former state forms the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. ISFR 2023 gives separate forest chapters for each.

Flora of Jammu and Kashmir: Natural Vegetation and Native Plants

Q: What is the natural vegetation of Jammu and Kashmir?

It changes with height. Dry deciduous forest, scrub and chir pine cover the lower hills. Oak, deodar, blue pine, spruce and fir forests fill the middle slopes. Higher up come birch and fir woods, then rhododendron and juniper scrub and alpine pastures. NCERT describes this same tropical-to-tundra sequence for the whole Himalayas.

Q: How much forest cover does Jammu and Kashmir have?

According to ISFR 2023, the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir has 21,346.39 km² of forest cover. That is 39.07% of its area as digitised by the Survey of India. Ladakh is reported separately, with 2,285.92 km² of forest cover, or 1.36% of its much larger area.

Q: Is saffron a native plant of Jammu and Kashmir?

Saffron is a crop farmers grow in fields, so it is cultivated rather than part of the natural vegetation. Kashmiri saffron is mainly grown in Pulwama, Budgam and Kishtwar, and it received a Geographical Indication tag in May 2020, according to a PIB release of December 2020.

The flora of Jammu and Kashmir starts with dry scrub and chir pine on the low hills. Higher up come deodar and blue pine forests, birch woods and alpine meadows. Height above sea level, not latitude, sets the pattern. Chinar, walnut, deodar, blue pine and silver fir are its best-known trees.

Jammu and Kashmir is a good place to see the montane forests described in our guide to the types of forests in India. This page covers the region’s vegetation zones, forest types and main native plants, keeping Ladakh’s figures separate.

Jammu and Kashmir or Ladakh: which area does this page cover?

The former state of Jammu and Kashmir was reorganised on 31 October 2019. According to a Ministry of Home Affairs release on PIB (2 November 2019), it became two union territories (UTs) on that date. The UT of Ladakh consists of the Kargil and Leh districts. The rest of the former state is the UT of Jammu and Kashmir.

The India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2023 follows this split. It has one chapter for Jammu and Kashmir and another for Ladakh. This page uses the Jammu and Kashmir chapter unless it says otherwise. Older books on the former state also include Ladakh, so check a source’s date.

What is the natural vegetation of Jammu and Kashmir?

Natural vegetation means plants that grow on their own, without being planted or tended by people. In Jammu and Kashmir, the main control on that vegetation is altitude. Air grows colder as land rises, so plants change from the plains of Jammu to the snowline.

NCERT’s Class 11 book India: Physical Environment describes a succession of Himalayan vegetation from tropical to tundra. Deciduous forests grow in the foothills. Wet temperate forests follow between 1,000 and 2,000 m. Blue pine and spruce appear at 2,225-3,048 m. Silver fir, juniper, pine, birch and rhododendron grow at 3,000-4,000 m, where forest gives way to alpine pastures. Mosses and lichens form tundra vegetation higher still.

NCERT also says the chinar and the walnut, “which sustain the famous Kashmir handicrafts”, belong to the temperate zone. It calls deodar a highly valued endemic species that grows mainly in the western Himalayas.

Where is most of the forest found?

ISFR 2023 measures forest cover in each altitude band of Jammu and Kashmir. The table pairs those official figures with NCERT’s plant belts for the Himalayas as a whole.

Altitude band	Forest cover (km², ISFR 2023)	NCERT’s Himalayan belt (approximate match)
0-500 m	1,041.19	Foothill deciduous forest
500-1,000 m	3,394.64	Foothill deciduous forest
1,000-2,000 m	6,216.86	Wet temperate forest; chir pine at 1,500-1,750 m; chinar and walnut
2,000-3,000 m	8,153.82	Blue pine and spruce from 2,225 m
3,000-4,000 m	2,538.05	Silver fir, juniper, pine, birch, rhododendron; alpine pastures
Above 4,000 m	1.83	Mosses and lichens (tundra)

In ISFR 2023, the 2,000-3,000 m band holds the largest share of forest cover. Above 4,000 m, almost no forest is recorded.

How much forest cover does Jammu and Kashmir have?

According to ISFR 2023, the UT of Jammu and Kashmir has 21,346.39 km² of forest cover. That equals 39.07% of its area of 54,634 km², as digitised by the Survey of India in November 2023. ISFR notes that the notified geographical area is still awaited.

Canopy class (ISFR 2023)	Area (km²)	Share of UT area
Very dense forest	4,208.79	7.70%
Moderately dense forest	8,006.56	14.66%
Open forest	9,131.04	16.71%
Total forest cover	21,346.39	39.07%
Scrub	262.27	0.48%

Canopy density measures how thickly tree crowns shade the ground, viewed from above. Ladakh is very different. ISFR 2023 gives it only 2,285.92 km² of forest cover, or 1.36% of its digitised area of 1,68,327 km². For forest cover of every state, see the cluster on the largest forest in India and forest cover by state.

What are the types of forest in Jammu and Kashmir?

The Forest Survey of India maps forest types using the Champion and Seth (1968) system. ISFR 2023 lists 39 forest types for Jammu and Kashmir, plus plantations and three kinds of grassland. The total mapped area is 26,178.13 km². This includes 4,569.47 km² of grassland types that lie outside forest cover.

The table shows its largest natural forest and grassland types. Plantations and trees outside forests add 1,540.45 km² (5.88%).

Forest type (ISFR 2023, Table 10.33.10)	Area (km²)	% of mapped area
Western mixed coniferous forest (spruce, blue pine, silver fir)	3,557.18	13.59
Alpine pastures (grassland, outside forest cover)	2,637.42	10.08
Lower or Siwalik chir pine forest	2,609.06	9.97
Low-level blue pine forest	2,168.28	8.28
Moist deodar forest	1,675.08	6.40
Northern dry mixed deciduous forest	1,579.40	6.03
West Himalayan sub-alpine birch/fir forest	1,426.28	5.45
West Himalayan high-level dry blue pine forest	1,271.03	4.86
Upper or Himalayan chir pine forest	1,094.78	4.18

Forest types from the foothills to the tree line

The many types fall into a few broad belts. The codes in brackets are Champion and Seth group numbers.

Dry deciduous and scrub (group 5): northern dry mixed deciduous forest, khair-sissu forest, dry bamboo brakes and dry deciduous scrub.
Subtropical pine (group 9): chir pine forests of the Siwaliks and the lower Himalaya.
Subtropical dry evergreen (group 10): scrub of wild olive (Olea cuspidata), Acacia modesta and Dodonaea.
Himalayan moist temperate (group 12): ban oak, moru oak and kharsu oak forests, moist deodar forest, blue pine and mixed conifers, plus alder forest.
Himalayan dry temperate (group 13): dry deodar forest, dry blue pine forest, oak and chilgoza pine (Pinus gerardiana) forest, and poplar and willow forest.
Sub-alpine (group 14): silver fir forest and birch/fir forest near the tree line.
Alpine scrub (groups 15 and 16): birch and rhododendron scrub, dwarf rhododendron, dry alpine scrub and dwarf juniper scrub.

Our cluster on montane forests of India explains these mountain belts for the whole Himalaya.

Which native plants and trees grow in Jammu and Kashmir?

Conifers

Cone-bearing trees dominate the recorded forests. ISFR 2023 counts trees on sample plots in the UT’s recorded forest area (RFA), the land listed as forest in government records. The top five species by number of trees in the RFA are:

Species (ISFR 2023, Table 10.33.13)	Trees (in ‘000)	Volume (million m³)
Blue pine or kail (Pinus wallichiana)	76,758	99.64
Chir pine (Pinus roxburghii)	43,031	52.81
Deodar (Cedrus deodara)	39,140	58.94
Silver fir (Abies pindrow)	37,220	96.66
Mallotus philippensis (a broadleaved tree)	18,736	1.97

Blue pine has soft, drooping needles. Chir pine forms open forests on the lower slopes. Deodar is the Himalayan cedar, and its durable wood is used in building, according to NCERT. Read more in our pages on coniferous forests in India and the cedar tree.

Broadleaved trees

The chinar is a large, broad-leaved shade tree. The walnut (Juglans regia) gives nuts and fine wood. NCERT links both trees to Kashmir’s handicrafts. ISFR 2023 lists walnut among the main non-timber forest product species of Jammu and Kashmir, with about 7,371 thousand plants.

Oaks are common too. In ISFR 2023, Quercus leucotrichophora, a Himalayan oak, ranks second by number of trees in rural areas outside forests. Willows (Salix) and poplars (Populus) form a forest type of their own and rank among the five commonest trees in towns. Khair (Acacia catechu) and shisham, or sissu, together make up khair-sissu forest in the dry deciduous belt.

Shrubs, scrub and alpine plants

Near the tree line, birch, rhododendron and juniper grow as small trees and shrubs. Above them lie alpine pastures, meadows of grasses and herbs. NCERT notes that herding groups such as the Gujjars and Bakarwals use these pastures for transhumance, the seasonal movement of herds to high ground in summer.

Our page on Gulmarg Wildlife Sanctuary covers the plants and animals of one protected area in the UT.

Invasive plants: not native

Some plants spreading in the forests are not native. ISFR 2023 names Lantana camara (about 160.73 km²) and Parthenium (about 149.65 km²) as the main invasive species inside the UT’s recorded forests. An invasive species is a plant brought from elsewhere that spreads and crowds out local plants.

Is saffron part of the flora of Jammu and Kashmir?

Saffron is a crop that farmers grow in fields. It is cultivated, so it is not natural vegetation. A PIB release of December 2020, from the Prime Minister’s Mann Ki Baat talk, says Kashmiri saffron is mainly grown in Pulwama, Budgam and Kishtwar. The same release says it received a Geographical Indication (GI) tag in May that year and describes it as a spice with many medicinal properties.

How is Ladakh’s vegetation different?

Ladakh is much higher than Jammu and Kashmir, and its forests are thin and patchy. In ISFR 2023, its largest forest types are West Himalayan sub-alpine fir forest (703.77 km²), dwarf juniper scrub (681.52 km²) and dry alpine scrub (540.60 km²). Poplar and willow forest covers 201.99 km². Most of Ladakh lies above 4,000 m, where ISFR records only 21.07 km² of forest cover.

Why is the flora of Jammu and Kashmir important?

Timber and forest products. Deodar, pines and fir supply wood, and walnut and khair are listed among the UT’s forest products.
Carbon storage. ISFR 2023 reports that Jammu and Kashmir has the highest carbon stock per hectare of any state or UT, at 174.10 tonnes.
Grazing. Alpine pastures feed the herds of pastoral communities.
Wildlife habitat. Forests and meadows shelter mountain animals. Our guide to the wildlife of Jammu and Kashmir introduces them.
Biodiversity. The region lies in the Himalaya, one of the areas discussed in our page on biodiversity hotspots in India.

What threatens these forests?

Fire is a serious concern. Using the SNPP-VIIRS satellite sensor, FSI recorded 4,255 fire detections in the UT in the 2021-22 season, 131 in 2022-23 and 3,829 in 2023-24 (ISFR 2023). One fire can produce several detections, and the totals swing widely from year to year. Invasive weeds and heavy grazing also put pressure on native plants.