Regions: Central India

A wild relative of the curry leaf from peninsular scrub forest.

A big orange-flowered climber of central forest, dramatic on a strong pergola.

A leafless thorny desert shrub with scarlet flowers and pickling berries.

Lasoda — sticky green fruit pickled across Rajasthan and Gujarat.

A small southern shrub with white flowers, long used for skin preparations.

Singhara — a floating annual grown in ponds and tanks across the north and east.

The silver-plumed grass of autumn riverbanks — Durga Puja in plant form.

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

The mehndi hedge of the dry west — scented flowers and dye leaves.

A thorny southern climber whose pods have washed hair for centuries.