The potential role of Eucalyptus plantations in recovering the native tree species regeneration was evaluated in south-western Ghats by comparing 25 year-old (25-EP) and 40 year-old Eucalyptus plantations (40-EP) and cleared evergreen forests (CF). Forty noncontiguous quadrats of 10 x 10 m size, totaling 0.4 ha each were randomly established in the 25-EP, 40-EP and the CF to enumerate all the native tree species in adult stage (³ 10 cm dbh size) and sapling stage (³ 1 < 10 cm dbh size). Sub-quadrats of 1 x 1 m size at the four corners of 10 x 10 m quadrat were sampled for tree seedlings. The CF had maximum number of native tree species at three states of regeneration (adult, sapling and seedling). Among the Eucalyptus plantations, 25-EP had adult species richness little lower than 40-EP, while the tree sapling and seedling diversity in 25-EP were higher than 40-EP. Of the 45 endemic tree species, the CF harbored more endemics (42%) than 25-EP (38%) and 40-EP (39%). Majority of the endemics were climax species (64%) which were dispersed by birds (40%) or mammals (29%). Unlike earlier belief, the Eucalyptus plantations in the study area seemed to play a significant role in promoting regeneration of the native tree species and facilitated natural forest succession.