Regions: South India

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.

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

Big lobed leaves and starchy fruit; a coastal tree of Kerala and the islands.

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

The palmarosa of the Deccan, distilled for a rose-scented oil.

Yellow culms striped green; the ornamental clumping bamboo of Indian gardens.

The deep red night-flowering lily of eastern tanks and temple ponds.

Grows on water or wet mud and crops every fortnight through the monsoon.

Big heart leaves on a wet corner; the corm below and the leaf above both go to the pot.