Regions: north-east

Black cardamom of Sikkim — deep shade under alder, at hill altitudes.

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

A creeping mat for the wet edge of a terrace pond or a bowl garden.

East Indian lemongrass, distilled in the north-east for citral oil.

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.

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