Regions: Islands & the coast

Malabar tamarind — the sour rind of Konkan and Kerala cooking.

A dark-stemmed shrub of the wet coasts with traditional joint-pain uses.

Fishtail palm of the Ghats and the north-east, tapped for sap and sago.

The cane of eastern furniture — a spiny climbing palm of wet forest.

The wild banana of the north-east — seedy fruit, but flowers and stem are food.

A Sundarbans mangrove with night flowers that bats pollinate.

The pioneer mangrove of Indian coasts, first to colonise new mud.

The tree the Sundarbans is named for, now under pressure from rising salinity.

A creeping tidal palm of eastern deltas, roofing houses and sweetening sap.

A stilt-rooted coastal pandan that holds sand against the sea.