Goals: beauty

The chuli of Ladakh and Kinnaur — blossom in April, fruit and kernel oil by July.

Pink blossom in November, out of season by every other measure — the hill wild cherry.

A woody climber with fringed white-and-yellow flowers and a heavy sweet scent.

A soft-haired jasmine that flowers through the cool months on a low wall.

A pot by an open window does more for a summer evening than any air freshener.

The chameli of the perfume fields — long-tubed white flowers picked before dawn.

The desert teak — orange trumpets on bare wood in March, on a tree that needs no water.

The narrow green column planted along every Indian driveway and boundary wall.

The plane tree of Kashmir, planted for four centuries and unmistakable in autumn.

Big palmate leaves and white flower candles in the western Himalayan valleys.