PlantsMap

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5 plants worth knowing

Cambodia

The heart of Cambodia is a great lowland plain with the Tonle Sap lake and the Mekong valley, where the rainy and dry seasons alternately flood and drain vast plains. The lowlands are dominated by rice paddies dotted with sugar palms, dry dipterocarp forests grow in the north and east, and the Cardamom Mountains in the south-west are covered by one of the largest humid rainforests in the region. In the ruins of Angkor, tropical nature literally intertwines with history.

Hover over a plant to see on the map where it grows.

where it grows

  1. Rumduol 1

    shrub · National flower of Cambodia

    Rumduol

    Sphaerocoryne lefevrei

    Small, creamy yellow flowers that smell strongest at dusk – in Khmer poetry a symbol of feminine beauty.
  2. Palmyra palm 2

    palm · National tree of Cambodia

    Palmyra palm

    Borassus flabellifer

    The slender sugar palm towers over rice paddies in almost every Cambodian view – it gives sugar, wine and thatch.
  3. Tetrameles nudiflora 3

    tree

    Tetrameles nudiflora

    Tetrameles nudiflora

    It is this tree’s gigantic roots that entwine the walls of the Ta Prohm temple at Angkor – one of the most photographed sights in Asia.
  4. Black pepper 4

    climber

    Black pepper

    Piper nigrum

    Kampot pepper was the first Cambodian product to gain EU protected geographical indication – prized by chefs around the world.
  5. Agarwood 5

    tree

    Agarwood

    Aquilaria crassna

    The infected wood of this tree yields oud – one of the most expensive fragrant substances in the world, pricier than gold.