Growing spaces: ground

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

Fishtail palm of the Ghats and the north-east, tapped for sap and sago.

The cane of eastern furniture — a spiny climbing palm of wet forest.

A thorny southern climber whose pods have washed hair for centuries.

Khus — a grass whose roots hold a slope together and scent a summer room.

The tejpatta of north Indian cooking — a hill tree, not the Mediterranean bay.

A creeping pepper of the eastern and southern forests, with catkin-like spikes.

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.