Regions: Central India

Khus — a grass whose roots hold a slope together and scent a summer room.

The gongura of Andhra kitchens — sour leaves and later, calyces for sherbet.

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

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

Desi cotton — the indigenous species, hardier than the imported kinds.

The dye plant of history, nitrogen-fixing and undemanding.

The dry-country bamboo of central India, solid-stemmed and drought-hardy.

Red February cups feeding every bird in the neighbourhood at once.

The tree of the Thar — Rajasthan’s state tree, feeding people and stock in drought.

Thorny, nitrogen-fixing and useful on land nobody else will plant.