Regions: Central India

The fastest useful tree there is — 3 m in a year, edible leaves and pods.

A small tree that lives happily in a deep pot and gives leaves all year.

Upright, bell-flowered and ancient; the oilseed of the dry season.

The grain that carries the western desert through a bad monsoon.

A tough small-grained millet of the southern and Himalayan hills.

The big white-waxed gourd of the south, stored for months after harvest.

Sprawls generously and stores well; the leaves and flowers are food too.

Drought-hardy bean of the west — fixes nitrogen and crops where little else will.

Pods, beans and green manure from one undemanding monsoon plant.

Bush beans for winter troughs; pole kinds for a balcony net.