Regions: west

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.

The wild date of the plains, tapped for gur and fruiting freely.

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.

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

The paan vine — grown in shaded enclosures across Bengal and the east.

The gongura of Andhra kitchens — sour leaves and later, calyces for sherbet.

Grown for fibre and calyces in the west and centre; a striking tall annual.

A fibre hibiscus of eastern India, quick and very tall.