Goals: Grow food

A north-eastern hill fruit, sour and used for pickle and jam.

The Himalayan butter tree, giving cooking fat and an enormous honey flow.

The north-eastern shoot bamboo — fermented shoots are a regional staple.

A few canes in a corner give juice, gur and a green screen by October.

A creeping tidal palm of eastern deltas, roofing houses and sweetening sap.

Tamil Nadu’s state tree — sap, fruit, leaf and timber from one palm.

The wild date of the plains, tapped for gur and fruiting freely.

Fishtail palm of the Ghats and the north-east, tapped for sap and sago.

The wild banana of the north-east — seedy fruit, but flowers and stem are food.

Grown for fibre and calyces in the west and centre; a striking tall annual.