Regions: north-east

A four-angled pod from the north-east and the coasts — every part is edible.

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

A hill millet that tolerates waterlogging better than any other grain.

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

A thick-leaved climbing spinach that thrives in the worst of the monsoon heat.

The black nightshade of monsoon fields — a leafy green in the east, a weed elsewhere.

An intensely bitter Himalayan herb of mid-altitude meadows, slow and particular.

A hill herb of stream banks with aromatic roots and heads of small white flowers.

A low monsoon weed of wet ground, gathered for hair oil for as long as anyone remembers.

Plant a knob of market haldi in June; harvest your own in February.