how to align the following in a table?

Question

I am trying to have the cell on the left be aligned with the three cells on the right, so that they all start at the same height:

\begin{tabular}{lp{2.5in}}
\multirow{3}{*}{\raisebox{-.1\height}{\includegraphics[width=3.5in]{plot.pdf}}} & 

child:
 lots of text here
&
parent:

 lots of text here

$\,$
& 
grandparent
lots of text here

\end{tabular}

right now, the cell on the right is much higher than the cell on the left.

I tried raisebox, as can be seen in the code, but it doesn't raise the image. I tried both -.1 and .1, I tried various numbers - the raisebox does not have any effect. I think it is related to the fact I am using multirow.

Is there a way to vertically align the image and the cells on the right?

I will also mention that the cells on the right do not overflow at the bottom, there is definitely space where you could fit it and "lower" them.

Answer 1

You want to make the height of the image the height of a line, with the rest of the vertical space being placed in the depth so you want the height to change from \height (its natural height) to \dp\strutbox (or perhaps a slight fudge factor depending how close to the top you want the image).

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{calc}

\begin{document}

\begin{tabular}{lp{3cm}}
\hline
\raisebox{\ht\strutbox-\height}{\includegraphics{wibble}}& one two three four five six seven eight\\
\hline
\end{tabular}

\end{document}