Seasons: Monsoon

Crocodile-bark and big leathery leaves; the tasar silk tree of central India.

A large deciduous tree of the Deccan, tapped traditionally for its red kino gum.

The true ashoka — orange flower clusters on a small shade-loving tree of wet forest.

The narrow green column planted along every Indian driveway and boundary wall.

An enormous umbrella crown of ferny leaves that folds shut before rain.

The pod of the khejri — the vegetable that carries the Thar through summer.

A leafless thorny desert shrub with scarlet flowers and pickling berries.

The ghost chilli of Nagaland — a genuine regional speciality, and ferocious.

Lasoda — sticky green fruit pickled across Rajasthan and Gujarat.

Yongchak — long flat pods eaten across Manipur and Nagaland.