Goals: Grow food

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

Bengal’s fibre crop, and its young leaves are a monsoon green.

A fibre hibiscus of eastern India, quick and very tall.

A sub-Himalayan tree giving edible fat and enormous quantities of nectar.

The nut tree of Kashmir and the western hills, needing real winter cold.

Ladakh and Himachal fruit — blossom in March, fruit in June, dried for winter.

A cold-desert shrub of Ladakh, nitrogen-fixing and vitamin-dense.

The vine that made the Malabar coast; needs a tree to climb and constant humidity.

Green cardamom of the Western Ghats — deep shade, cool air and steady rain.

A slow evergreen of the wet south-west, harvested as unopened flower buds.