Regions: South India

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

The shrub that turns the Nilgiri slopes blue once every twelve years, then dies.

Flame-red reflexed petals on a climbing lily — the state flower of Tamil Nadu.

The souring fruit of Kerala fish curry, dried black and kept all year.

The Malabar nutmeg of swampy Ghats forest — a myristica swamp indicator species.

A small-fruited endemic jamun of the southern hills, cropping through the monsoon.

Long hanging chains of maroon and yellow flowers — the Mysore clock vine.

A tall wet-evergreen tree of the southern Ghats, red-flushed in new leaf.

The canopy tree that feeds the lion-tailed macaque; endemic to the southern Ghats.

The wild jack of Malabar — timber for boats and fruit for the monkeys.