Cambodia has more forest cover than most of its Asian neighbours, and a healthy mangrove belt fringing the coastline. The central lowland con­sists of the ubiquitous rice paddies, fields of dry crops such as corn and tobacco, tracts of reeds and tall grass, and thinly wooded areas.

In the southwest, virgin rainforests grow to heights of 50m or more on the rainy seaward slopes of the mountains. Nearby, higher elevations support pine forests. In the northern mountains there are broadleaf evergreen forests with trees soaring 30m above the thick undergrowth of vines, bamboos, palms and assorted woody and herbaceous ground plants. The Eastern Highlands are covered with grassland and deciduous forests. Forested upland areas support many varieties of orchid. However, in the past two decades, a great deal of deforestation has taken place.

The symbol of Cambodia is the sugar palm tree, which is used for roofs and walls in construction and in the production of medicine, wine and vinegar. Because of the way sugar palms grow - over the years, the tree grows taller but the trunk, which lacks normal bark, does not grow thicker -their trunks retain shrapnel marks from every battle that has ever raged around them. Some sugar palms have been shot clean through the trunk.