Regions: east

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

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

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

The tejpatta of north Indian cooking — a hill tree, not the Mediterranean bay.

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

Sacred, enormous and the most valuable bird tree in any Indian city.

The tree that becomes a grove; only for parks, campuses and village greens.

Figs in bunches straight off the trunk, feeding birds, bats and monkeys.

Flushes pink-red new leaves in spring; a broad, fast shade tree.

Glossy-leaved and salt-tolerant, with seed oil once used in every lamp.