Tectona grandis was first formally described by Carl Linnaeus the Younger in his 1782 work Supplementum Plantarum.
In 1975, Harold Norman Moldenke published new descriptions of four forms of this species in the journal Phytologia.
Moldenke described each form as varying slightly from the type specimen: T. grandis f. canescens is distinguished from the type material by being densely canescent, or covered in hairs, on the underside of the leaf, T. grandis f. pilosula is distinct from the type material in the varying morphology of the leaf veins, T. grandis f. punctata is only hairy on the larger veins on the underside of the leaf, and T. grandis f. tomentella is noted for its dense yellowish tomentose hairs on the lower surface of the leaf.
