Regions: South India

Enormous upright leaves for a wet shaded corner — architecture rather than a crop.

A small creeping marsh herb for the shallow edge of a tub pond.

Spokes of leaf on a green stem — the marginal plant that makes a tub read as a pond.

The world’s most stubborn weed, and an aromatic tuber used for centuries.

A soft-haired jasmine that flowers through the cool months on a low wall.

A pot by an open window does more for a summer evening than any air freshener.

The chameli of the perfume fields — long-tubed white flowers picked before dawn.

Twisted screw-shaped pods on a scrub shrub of the dry deciduous forest.

Pink or white flowers all year on a shrub that survives the worst urban roadside.

Narrow willow leaves and yellow bells; tough, fast and equally poisonous.