Regions: East India

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

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

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

A creeping pepper of the eastern and southern forests, with catkin-like spikes.

The paan vine — grown in shaded enclosures across Bengal and the east.

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.