Regions: South India

Feathery-leaved and drought-hardy; one grafted tree feeds a household in winter.

A thorny hedge shrub that gives pickling fruit and keeps animals out.

Handsome, thorny and productive on poor dry soil; good in a big pot.

Evergreen, wind-firm and cropping twice a year on the coasts.

The tree the coasts are built on — water, kernel, oil, thatch and shade.

Slim palm of the wet south-west and north-east, grown in dense stands.

A coastal tree that fruits on poor laterite where almost nothing else does.

The kokum of the Konkan — a slim tree with fruit that makes the summer drink.

Sour fruit straight off the trunk, in constant supply on the wet coasts.

Ribbed yellow fruit several times a year on a compact tree.