We propose a new efficient indexing scheme, called the HG-tree, to support content-based retrieval in image databases. Image content is represented by a point in a multidimensional feature space. The types of queries considered are the range query and the nearest-neighbor query, both in a multidimensional space. Our goals are twofold: increasing the storage utilization and decreasing the area covered by the directory regions of the index tree. The high storage utilization and the small directory area reduce the number of nodes that have to be touched during the query processing. The first goal is achieved by suppressing node splitting if possible, and when splitting is necessary, converting two nodes into three. This is done by proposing a good ordering on the directory nodes. The second goal is achieved by maintaining the area occupied by the directory region as small as possible. This is done by introducing the smallest interval that encloses all regions of the lower nodes. We note t...