Growing spaces: ground

A thorny yellow-wooded Himalayan shrub with blue berries and traditional root use.

The chuli of Ladakh and Kinnaur — blossom in April, fruit and kernel oil by July.

Pink blossom in November, out of season by every other measure — the hill wild cherry.

A Himalayan cherry with long fruit racemes that thrushes and bulbuls strip in weeks.

The tejpatta of the sub-Himalayan tract — three-veined leaves, straight off the tree.

The wild amla of the southern hills, smaller-fruited and tougher than the orchard kind.

The sap palm of Bengal and the Deccan, tapped in winter for nolen gur.

A woody climber with fringed white-and-yellow flowers and a heavy sweet scent.

A soft-haired jasmine that flowers through the cool months on a low wall.

The chameli of the perfume fields — long-tubed white flowers picked before dawn.