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.
114 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
Resurrection FernसंजीवनीSelaginella bryopterisThe sanjeevani of the rocks — curls up bone dry, then greens again in an hour of rain.
Job’s TearsगुरलुCoix lacryma-jobiHard glossy grain used as food, as beads and as a brewing grain in the hills.Kodo MilletकोदोPaspalum scrobiculatumThe kodo of the Deccan and central hills — drought-proof and long-storing.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.Staghorn Fernस्टैगहॉर्नPlatycerium wallichiiAn antler-shaped epiphytic fern of Assam’s forests, mounted on a board.Water Lettuceजल सलादPistia stratiotesA floating rosette that shades a tub and starves the algae — but a weed if it escapes.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.Water Hyssopनीर ब्राह्मीBacopa floribundaA small creeping marsh herb for the shallow edge of a tub pond.Umbrella SedgeमोथाCyperus alternifoliusSpokes of leaf on a green stem — the marginal plant that makes a tub read as a…CattailपटेराTypha angustifoliaBrown flower spikes over strap leaves; the reed that cleans a village pond.Common ReedनरकुलPhragmites karkaThe tall reed of Indian riverbanks, and the standard plant for a reed-bed filter.
Muli Bambooमूली बांसMelocanna bacciferaThe bamboo that covers Mizoram, and whose mass flowering brings the rat floods.Golden Bambooपीला बांसBambusa vulgarisYellow culms striped green; the ornamental clumping bamboo of Indian gardens.Spear GrassसरकंडाSaccharum spontaneumSilver plumes across the riverbanks after the monsoon; the kans of the floodplain.
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