WAX PALMS— BOMHARD 3II 



chonas. Incidentally, this was a time of great interest in and ex- 

 ploitation of the various species of cinchona of Andean South Amer- 

 ica. The properties of quinine had become well known, and many 

 botanical explorers of the first half of the nineteenth century, in- 

 cluding Humboldt, made valuable contributions to the knowledge of 

 the distribution and character of the species of cinchona. 



Probably no botanical explorer from tlie illustrious Humboldt's 

 time until today would think of making a collecting trip in South 

 America without having thoroughly familiarized himself with Hum- 

 boldt's descriptions. Certainly, the botanists of the past century 

 studied his accounts assiduously. But, strange to relate, it seems 

 more than probable that Humboldt mixed two species of palms in his 

 account of G. andicola; he gave the type locality on the eastern slope 

 of the Quindio and then apparently figured a very different palm. 

 This might easily have happened considering the difficulties under 

 which he traveled and bearing in mind that there are wax palms on 

 both slopes and in other portions of the Andes. Let us put ourselves 

 in his place for a moment ! We have come to some marvelous wax 

 palms growing at a very high altitude and note the location; the 

 road is treacherous and slippery and the 12 oxen, steadily climbing 

 steep slopes over a miserable trail, are already loaded down with bag- 

 gage and plant collections; we ask the guides whether these palms 

 continue on the other side of the pass and are assured that there 

 are just as many beyond the crest; supposing the eastern portion of 

 the trail to be the most difficult part, it seems best to delay the col- 

 lection of specimens and data on the palm itself until we have come 

 to the less hazardous descent on the western slope ! 



We know that Hmnboldt was delayed by torrential rains for several 

 days after the Boqueron had been crossed and that he was quartered 

 in one of the cabins protected by the waterproof roof. Did he describe 

 the palms that surrounded him then, thinking them the same as those 

 he had seen on the eastern slope ? Did he figure from memory a wax 

 palm which he saw elsewhere ? We shall never know. It is only pos- 

 sible to advance speculations such as the foregoing in an attempt to 

 explain the disturbing discrepancies in Humboldt's illustrations and 

 accounts as compared with the findings of subsequent travelers. In 

 the original description of C. andicola, it is stated that Humboldt 

 sketched the palm on the spot. There is, however, no corroboration by 

 persons who have since crossed the trail that such a palm as that fig- 

 ured — it has a bulge in the trunk and the spathes are distributed here 

 and there in very unorthodox fashion — exists on the eastern side of the 

 pass nor is it easy, in the light of information at hand, to identify it 

 with a wax palm on the western slope ! We have the word of Baron 

 von Thielmann in Vier Wege durch Amerika (p. viii, 1879) that Hum- 



