WAX PALMS— BOMHARD 307 



was first discovered 135 years ago, these trees were the tallest living 

 plants known. The very first description noted finding palms 177 

 feet high, but this estimate was subsequently proved to be an under- 

 statement since they often reach 200 feet and may possibly occa- 

 sionally reach a maximum of more than 250 feet. It may be of in- 

 terest to point out that the tallest living trees at the present time 

 are numbered among the redwoods and the eucalypts — a redwood 

 {Sequoia senipervirens) 364 feet high holds the record among living 

 trees.^ At the beginning of the nineteenth century the redwoods 

 were unknown to science and the tallest of the eucalypts had not 

 yet been discovered." 



It should be noted that palm species are usually described as tall 

 when their trunk height attains 60 feet or more. The fact that the 

 trunk is unbranched has the effect of making many palms appear 

 taller than they are by exact measurement. A general notion of the 

 tremendous height of the wax palm of the Quindio Pass may be 

 gained by a comparison with two of the most impressive palms, from 

 the standpoint of height, to be seen within the borders of the United 

 States: the royal palm {Roystonea floridana) of southern Florida 

 and the Mexican Washingtonia {W dshingtonia robusta)^ native to 

 Lower California and Sonora but introduced and much planted in 

 California, the Southwest, along the Gulf Coast, and in Florida. 

 Both of these occasionally measure 100 feet in height (perhaps more). 

 At least four species of wax palms now known are nearly twice as 

 tall and the Quindio wax palm may even exceed this. 



Is is also of interest that palm flowers, although individually 

 rather small, are borne in such great numbers on the flowering 

 branches as to form usually rather showy sprays or clusters. The 

 flowering branches first develop enclosed in one or more leaflike 

 structures called spathes^ from which they emerge when the flowers 

 are about to open. The spathes may remain on the tree even after 

 the flowers have formed fruits. The characteristics of the flowers 

 and fruits, the branches on which they are borne, and the spathes 

 are very important to an understanding of the various species of 

 palms. 



It was in October 1801 that Alexander von Humboldt, world- 

 traveler, cosmographer, and one of the most renowned naturalists of 

 all time, undertook the difficult journey over the Quindio Pass. He 

 was accompanied by his botanical associate, Aime Bonpland. It was 

 on this journey that Humboldt discovered the first species of wax 



^Tiemann, Harry D., What are the largest trees in the world? Journ. Forest., vol. 33, 

 no. 11, p. 903. 1935. 



•Although Sequoia sempervirens was discovered by Archibald Menzies near San 

 Francisco Bay in 1796, the redwoods were not known in English gardens until 50 years 

 later ; the genus was first published in 1847. 

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