Distribution of Flora in Indonesia from Each Type
Distribution of Flora in Indonesia from Each Type – As an archipelagic country, Indonesia consists of various tribes with different customs.
This condition makes Indonesia famous to foreign countries and admired by many foreign tourists.
The tens of thousands of islands it has make Indonesia’s natural appearance so beautiful and its charm always invites admiration. The natural beauty stretches from Sabang to Merauke.
Indonesia’s geographical location does not only affect its natural appearance.
Indonesia also has a diversity of flora types. Flora has the overall meaning of plant life in a particular habitat or area.
Flora is more easily referred to as plants. This richness of flora also makes Indonesia a special country and is increasingly admired.
There are even some types of plants that only grow in Indonesia and are not found in other countries.
Distribution of Flora in Indonesia
The distribution of flora in Indonesia is not without reason. Long ago during the glacial period, the Indonesian archipelago was formed from the Asian plate and the Australian plate when viewed from the geological sciences.
The Indonesian archipelago which is united with the Asian plate is Kalimantan, Sumatra and Java.
Then the land was called the Sunda Shelf. While the islands that are united with the Australian plate are Papua which is then called the Sahul Shelf.
There are also islands that are not included in the Asian and Australian plates, namely Maluku, Sulawesi and Nusa Tenggara.
With the existence of three different types of islands, this plate creates a different flora habitat between the three.
There are flora with typical Asian characteristics or the so-called Asiatic type, with Australian characteristics called the Australis type and characteristically a mixture of the two called the transitional type.
Apart from being caused by geological history factors, the distribution of flora in Indonesia is also caused by climate differences
These climate differences are created from climate-forming elements in the form of temperature, wind, rainfall and humidity.
Indonesia itself is a country that has a tropical climate because it is located on the equator.
On the other hand, all regions of Indonesia have quite high rainfall but with different levels. This difference is one of the causes of different types of flora.
As we know that every plant lives and develops with different characters to the climate. There are types of plants that can only grow in areas that have high rainfall.
There are also those that can actually grow in dry areas or plants that require little sunlight.
There are also types of plants that require large amounts of sunlight. This is why climate is one of the factors that can affect the diversity of flora in Indonesia.
Not only climate and geographical conditions, other factors also play a role in the distribution of flora in Indonesia. For example, the factor of the state of the land, water and the high and low surface of the earth.
Soil as a place for plants to grow certainly has a different level of fertility and will affect the types of flora that can live.
Water also certainly has an effect even though each plant requires different water levels.
Meanwhile, the high and low surface of the earth affects the temperature and the types of plants that are suitable in certain areas.
Types of Distribution of Flora in Indonesia
The distribution of flora in Indonesia is separated by the Wallace line and the Weber line. The Wallace Line is an imaginary line that separates western and central Indonesia.
While the Weber line is an imaginary line that separates central and eastern Indonesia.
With the division of the region, these are the types of flora in Indonesia based on three types, namely Asiatis (west), Australis (east) and transition (middle).
Indonesian Flora Asiatic Type
The distribution of flora in western Indonesia is called the Asiatic type because many of the flora in the western part are almost the same as the flora on the Asian continent in general.
The western part of Indonesia itself includes the islands of Sumatra, Java and Kalimantan. This flora in the western part of Indonesia has a heterogeneous nature, mainly influenced by the tropical rainy climate with high rainfall.
Several variations of plants found in western Indonesia include types of mosses, nails, mushrooms, meranti, mahogany, resin and others.
There are also many types of forests such as tropical rain forests, monsoon forests, tropical savanna forests and mangroves or mangroves in the coastal areas of this western region.
There are also several endemic Indonesian flora that are unique to the west, namely the Rafflesia Arnoldi flower or also called the corpse flower.
The characteristic of Asiatic flora in general is that it has various types of valuable woody plants, such as teak, meranti, kruing, mahogany, and the like and is always green throughout the year.
Indonesian Flora Type Australis
The distribution of flora in eastern Indonesia is called the Australis type because the distribution of flora in eastern Indonesia is almost the same as the flora on the Australian continent in general.
The eastern part of Indonesia includes Papua, Maluku and surrounding areas. The climate in eastern Indonesia is dominated by tropical rain forests and mountain forests.
In addition, there are also many plants such as sago trees, palm trees and mangrove forests or mangroves in coastal areas.
Eastern Indonesia also has typical Australis plants such as rasamala trees, eucalyptus plants and the type of pemetia pinnata or motea commonly found in Australia.
One of the most easily recognizable characteristics of the Australis plant is its elongated leaf shape. Another characteristic of Australian plants or flora is that they have parallel leaf structures, i.e. leaves that have large veins that are parallel to one another.
Indonesian Flora Transitional Type
The distribution of flora in central Indonesia is also called the transitional type or the flora of the Wallace archipelago. The transitional area covers the island of Sulawesi and the surrounding islands as well as the Nusa Tenggara Islands.
There is no dense forest in this area. The types of forest that exist are only seasonal forests or homogeneous forests that are not so dense, even in the Nusa Tenggara area we will only find savanna and steppes.
The savanna is a wide meadow with scattered woody plants. While the steppes are dry land overgrown with shrubs.
This condition occurs because the Nusa Tenggara region has relatively less rainfall compared to other islands in Indonesia.
Types of plants that dominate in the central part of Indonesia, among others, types of palm, fir, pine, types of spices, such as nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, walnuts, ebony, sandalwood and lontar.
Indonesia’s natural wealth makes its flora so diverse. There is even a clear division regarding the distribution of flora in Indonesia which differs between regions even though it is still one country.
This diversity makes Indonesia a beautiful country, a country that is admired and always invites a sense of wanting to visit. Hopefully the existence of this diverse flora will be maintained so that our children and grandchildren will still be able to recognize it.
