Seasons: Monsoon

Host tree of the lac insect, with brilliant red leaf flush in spring.

Double-lobed aromatic leaves used across the north-east and the far south.

The fastest usable material on earth; one clump supplies poles for years.

Tiered branches and huge leaves that turn red before falling — a coastal shade tree.

The dry-country bamboo of central India, solid-stemmed and drought-hardy.

Sacred, enormous and the most valuable bird tree in any Indian city.

Small sour-sweet berries in May, from a shrub that shrugs off a Delhi summer.

Fruit in March, silkworm leaves all summer, and shade in between.

Handsome, thorny and productive on poor dry soil; good in a big pot.

Evergreen, wind-firm and cropping twice a year on the coasts.