Seasons: Monsoon

Flushes pink-red new leaves in spring; a broad, fast shade tree.

The timber tree of the north Indian plain, nitrogen-fixing and fast.

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.

Central India’s most important livelihood tree — flowers, oil and shade.

Sour fruit straight off the trunk, in constant supply on the wet coasts.

Ribbed yellow fruit several times a year on a compact tree.

Kagzi lime — the single most useful pot tree for an Indian household.

Purple fruit in June and dense evergreen shade for the rest of the year.