Regions: North-East India

The blue vanda of Meghalaya — tessellated flowers, and protected in the wild.

Cane orchid of the eastern hills, flowering along last year’s bare canes.

An antler-shaped epiphytic fern of Assam’s forests, mounted on a board.

The sour leaf of Assam and Manipur, cooked with fish and pork.

Egg-shaped tart fruit on a soft-wooded small tree of the eastern hills.

A tiny creeping mat for the wet edge of a tub — the softest possible ground cover.

The wild ancestor of cultivated rice, still standing in eastern wetlands.

Half the country’s calories — and a bucket of it on a terrace teaches more than any book.

Pale crisp fruit that smells of rose water, on a small spreading evergreen.

The slender betel-nut palm of the wet coasts, grown in dense shaded gardens.