Lesser Sunda Islands
Some of the islands east of the Wallace line, from Lombok and Sumbawa east to Flores and Alor, have original vegetation of dry forest and not the rain forest that covers most parts of Indonesia. These islands have been designated by the World Wildlife Fund as the Lesser Sundas deciduous forests ecoregion. The higher slopes of the islands contain forests of tall Podocarpus conifers and Engelhardias with an undergrowth of lianas, epiphytes, and orchids such as Corybas, Corymborkis, and Malaxis (Adder's Mouth). The islands' coastal plains used to be savanna grasses like the savanna with Borassus flabellifer palm trees on the coasts of Komodo, Rincah and Flores. While most of the vegetation on these islands is dry forest there are small areas of rainforest on these islands too, especially in lowland areas and riverbanks on Komodo. There is also a special area of dry thorny forest on the southeast coast of Lombok. Thorn trees used to be more common in coastal areas of the islands but have mostly been cleared.