Discover the National Flower of Cambodia: Rumduol

Written by Rebecca Mathews
Published: February 2, 2023
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Cambodia is filled with exotic flowers and native plants from sweet-scented vibrant blooms to carnivorous swamp dwellers. There were many beauties to choose from, but in 2005 one was crowned the national flower. Let’s discover the national flower of Cambodia and the area’s other native exotic blooms.

What is the National Flower of Cambodia?

The national flower of Cambodia is the rumduol flower. It’s a pretty yellow three-petalled bloom with a striking sweet fragrance. Rumduol grows wild across Cambodia and it’s a popular ornamental flower in parks and gardens.

It’s easy to see why this stunning flower was chosen as the national flower of Cambodia.

Geographic map of Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos

Cambodia sits in the tropics.

©Bennian/Shutterstock.com

Where is Cambodia?

The Kingdom of Cambodia is located in the Indochinese Peninsula of southeast Asia. It shares a border with Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and the Gulf of Thailand.

Cambodia is 181,035 square kilometers and has a population of more than 17 million. Its capital city is Phnom Penh, pronounced Pen-nom-pen. Buddhism is the main religion.

Cambodia sits in the tropics. It has a wide range of seasonal tropical forests and monsoons are frequent. This hot and humid climate means Cambodia contains some really amazing plant life.

Let’s take a look at the national flower of Cambodia along with seven other incredible native Cambodia flowers.

All About the Rumduol Flower

In 2005, King Sihamoni proclaimed rumduol (Sphaerocoryne affinis) the country’s official national flower. Its synonym is Mitrella mesnyi and it’s sometimes spelled romduol.

This stunning flower is a shrub that sits in the Annonaceae family. It’s seen almost everywhere in Cambodia. There’s a large concentration of the flower around Angkor Wat temple, in public parks, and strewn through its humid tropical forests. This flower is so popular that several regions are even named after it. Rumduol is also a Cambodian term for a beautiful woman.

But the national flower of Cambodia isn’t just a pretty face. It’s been used in traditional medicine for thousands of years and is still widely used in rural Cambodia today. Rumduol bark treats fevers and snake bites, and herbalists and doctors grind down its flowers to treat blood pressure issues.

Today, the potential of rumduol’s antioxidant activity to treat Parkinson’s disease is under the microscope.

Rumduol Flower: Blooms

The most notable aspect of the rumdoul tree is its flowers. They are yellowish-white with three large waxy open petals and three petals covering the red center stamens. Each flower is thick and substantial and often grows to several inches in spread.

Rumduol flowers emit a sweet distinctive fragrance in the evening. It’s not a floral scent, but something a little muskier. It’s distinctive and unmistakable once you’ve discovered it.

Rumduol flowers are used cosmetically because their scent is so attractive. The popular Cambodian scented lip wax called kramuon rumduol is made from rumduol flowers.

Insects and moths emerge during the evenings to pollinate rumduol trees and from December-March the flowers mature into fruit clusters.

Its fruits are edible when they’ve fully ripened from green to rich dark red. Rural Cambodians collect the fruits to sell at the market and they are eaten by various wildlife species such as lizards, civets, and birds.

Rumduol Flower: Foliage

Rumduol stems are bendy and have a rich yellow-brown shade. They’re used to make bows and hunting tools and, as we’ve seen, used in traditional medicine.

Long oval evergreen leaves grow along its stems alternately arranged. They are silver-green with a striking mid-vein and reach around four inches long. Their shiny surfaces reflect light to highlight the stunning flowers.

Height and Spread of Rumduol

The national flower of Cambodia is a mid-sized tree that can reach 26-39 feet in height and spread (8-12 meters), but it’s often pruned into a bushy shrub in private gardens.

Rumduol Flower: Growing Zones

Rumduol trees are tropical heat lovers that don’t face any cold conditions in Cambodia.

There’s very little evidence of rumduol trees growing in the U.S. or Europe, but they are likely to grow in zones 10-11. However, obtaining seeds or saplings will prove a challenge.

What Pollinates Rumduol Flowers?

Rumduol flowers are heavily scented in the evening to attract nocturnal pollinators such as moths, but butterflies, bees, and other insects are busy harvesting nectar during the daytime.

Why is Rumduol Cambodia’s National Flower?

Cambodian King Sihamoni made rumduol the official state flower in 2005 because it represents Cambodian life. It’s widespread, beautiful, and useful; plus, it has a unique scent that isn’t found in such abundance elsewhere.

Stunning Flowers of Cambodia

Rumduol is just one of many stunning Cambodian flowers. Let’s discover a few more plants that love its humid climate and rich soil.

Frangipani (Plumeria rubra)

Much like rumduol, frangipani has highly scented waxy flowers. It’s a deciduous shrub that can reach 13 feet tall with succulent branches and 12-inch long green oblong leaves, but it’s the scented flowers that people love.

In late summer, frangipani produces terminal panicles of rose pink blooms with yellow centers. In Cambodia, frangipani grows in the forests and it’s a popular ornamental in gardens too.

Large Leafed Orange Mangrove (Bruguiera gymnorhiza)

Native to Cambodia is the large-leafed orange mangrove tree. It’s found in swamps and along coastlines enjoying damp or flooded conditions, although it also grows in gardens with moist soil.

It has stunning flame-like orange flowers and crustaceans eat its eight-inch long shiny green leaves.

Siam Tulip (Curcuma alismatifolia)

The Siam tulip is a stunning tropical flower that’s native to southeast Asia, but it’s not a tulip! The Siam tulip is actually part of the ginger family and is often called “hidden ginger.”

It has long distinctive foliage just like tulips grown in the U.S. or European gardens, but instead of one cupped bloom, its flower inflorescence takes up around half its stem in bold arrays of pink, orange, or purple.

Tronum Bangkuey (Dendrolobium baccatum)

The tronum bangkuey plant is a shrub-like plant found in wet forestland or damp, peaty clay soil alongside bamboo and evergreens.

Tronum bangkuey means “habitat of lizards” and this shrub is well known as a place lizards can safely hide.

It has long, thin branches with mid-green leaves in sets of three along its length and small white flowers bloom in its leaf-to-branch joint, but it’s the warty, textured bark that lizards love. They blend in seamlessly! Rural Cambodians use this shrub for fuel and, because its fruit is edible, it’s a popular food source, as well.

Nepenthes (Nepenthes kampotiana)

Now for something not quite so pretty. The nepenthes plant hides a deadly secret — it’s carnivorous. This tropical pitcher plant is native to southern Cambodia and grows in hot, dry, sandy soil.

At the end of its upright tendrils nepenthes develops a slippery-sided pitcher full of fluid that drowns its prey. It usually traps insects, but there are records of frogs, small mammals, and birds ending up in its clutches.

Sacred lotus Nelumbo nucifera

Lotus is one of the most populous species in Cambodia.

©T.Voekler / CC BY-SA 3.0 – License

Lotus (Nelumbo nucifera)

Lotus flowers fill Cambodia. It’s one of the most populous species there and has become symbolic of its rivers, lakes, and ponds.

It’s an aquatic perennial that grows roots in river soil and floats its leaves on the water’s surface. Its flowers are held on stalks above the waterline to attract pollinators.

Lotus flowers are bright pink, red, yellow, or white. Cambodians use them in ornamental dress and their rhizomes and seeds in traditional medicine.

Green Cardamom (Amomum ovoideum)

This tasty plant is part of the ginger family and a native herb of Cambodia. It grows in dense forests on the moist, nutrient-rich floor and throws up soft red spines that mature into fruit. This fruit is very similar to cardamon when it’s dried and used extensively in medicine and as a food flavoring.

Amomum ovoideum is a recognized endangered species due to Cambodia’s widespread deforestation.

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The photo featured at the top of this post is © អ្នកប្រើប្រាស់:ទេព សុវិចិត្រ | BY-SA – License / Original


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About the Author

Rebecca is a writer at A-Z Animals where her primary focus is on plants and geography. Rebecca has been writing and researching the environment for over 10 years and holds a Master’s Degree from Reading University in Archaeology, which she earned in 2005. A resident of England’s south coast, Rebecca enjoys rehabilitating injured wildlife and visiting Greek islands to support the stray cat population.

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