Regions: south

The cane of eastern furniture — a spiny climbing palm of wet forest.

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

A few canes in a corner give juice, gur and a green screen by October.

Cut-and-carry fodder that regrows every forty days for years.

A Sundarbans mangrove with night flowers that bats pollinate.

The pioneer mangrove of Indian coasts, first to colonise new mud.

A stilt-rooted coastal pandan that holds sand against the sea.

The coastal shelterbelt tree of the east and south — fast and salt-proof.

Tamil Nadu’s state tree — sap, fruit, leaf and timber from one palm.

A creeping pepper of the eastern and southern forests, with catkin-like spikes.