Regions: north-east

The silver-plumed grass of autumn riverbanks — Durga Puja in plant form.

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.

The ghost chilli of Nagaland — a genuine regional speciality, and ferocious.

A scrambling hill plant whose root gives a lasting red dye.

Reetha — the washing fruit of the sub-Himalayan tract, from a good shade tree.

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.