Explore Plants
Indian plants documented for the way people actually garden — filter by what you want the plant to do, the space you have, the month you can sow and the region you are in. The result count below is live.
Use the filters on the plant archive to narrow by goal, growing space and season. Every record carries a Hindi name, a botanical name, a care note and the months in which to sow.
50 plants match your filters Answer three questions on the home page — your region, your space and your goal — and we will name two plants to sow this month.Filters2 on
Staghorn Fernस्टैगहॉर्नPlatycerium wallichiiAn antler-shaped epiphytic fern of Assam’s forests, mounted on a board.
Job’s TearsगुरलुCoix lacryma-jobiHard glossy grain used as food, as beads and as a brewing grain in the hills.Silver Fernचांदी फर्नPityrogramma calomelanosA white-backed fern that colonises damp walls and cut slopes on its own.
Foxtail Orchidद्रौपदी मालाRhynchostylis retusaThe kopou phul of Assam — hanging foxtail sprays, and the flower of Bihu.Lady’s Slipper Orchidलेडी स्लिपरPaphiopedilum insigneA pouched terrestrial orchid of the eastern Himalaya, cool-growing and slow.Blue Vandaनील ऑर्किडVanda coeruleaThe blue vanda of Meghalaya — tessellated flowers, and protected in the wild.Lotus-leaf PennywortखुरखुरीHydrocotyle sibthorpioidesA tiny creeping mat for the wet edge of a tub — the softest possible ground cover.Wild Riceजंगली चावलOryza rufipogonThe wild ancestor of cultivated rice, still standing in eastern wetlands.
YongchakयोंगचाकParkia timorianaThe tree bean of Manipur — long flat pods with a pungent unmistakable smell.Muli Bambooमूली बांसMelocanna bacciferaThe bamboo that covers Mizoram, and whose mass flowering brings the rat floods.Red Water Lilyरक्त कमलNymphaea rubraThe deep red night-flowering lily of eastern tanks and temple ponds.Common ReedनरकुलPhragmites karkaThe tall reed of Indian riverbanks, and the standard plant for a reed-bed filter.MussaendaमुसैंडाMussaenda frondosaOne enlarged white sepal per flower, so the whole shrub reads as pale bracts.Wild Mangoवन आमMangifera sylvaticaThe forest ancestor of the orchard mango, still fruiting in eastern hill forest.IronwoodनागकेसरMesua ferreaGlossy drooping new leaves in pink, then white flowers with a gold centre.Himalayan CherryपदमPrunus cerasoidesPink blossom in November, out of season by every other measure — the hill wild cherry.
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