Regions: West India

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.

Desi cotton — the indigenous species, hardier than the imported kinds.

The dye plant of history, nitrogen-fixing and undemanding.

The tree of the Thar — Rajasthan’s state tree, feeding people and stock in drought.

Thorny, nitrogen-fixing and useful on land nobody else will plant.

Glossy-leaved and salt-tolerant, with seed oil once used in every lamp.

The timber tree of the deccan, straight-boled and deep-rooted.