WAX PALMS— BOMHARD 315 



correct. Specimens of this smaller palm from the western slope of 

 the Quindio, collected by E. P. Killip of the Smithsonian Institution, 

 and Dr. T. E. Hazen of Colmnbia University in 1922, have berries 

 whose surface is roughened by small pustules; specimens are depos- 

 ited in a number of herbaria, including the United States National 

 Herbarium. The photograph shown in plate 2 was taken by Mr. 

 Killip near Salento and that in plate 3 on the eastern slope near La 

 Ceja. (See also Andre's map.) On the western slope the wax palms 

 disappeared at 5,900 feet elevation and were replaced by palms of 

 warmer habitat. 



Baron von Thielmann, who journeyed over the Quindio shortly 

 after Andre, also gives a very detailed account of the trail and the 

 wax palms in his Vier Wege durch Amerika (1879). He points out 

 that although the hardships of the journey have lessened considerably 

 since Humboldt's time, "the hazards for the horseman are still great 

 enough, especially during the torrential rains, of which no month is 

 quite free in the high mountains." He is most enthusiastic concern- 

 ing this Begion, for he writes : "In forest beauty of mountain wilds, 

 the Quindio hardly has a rival. The groves of the wax palms are to 

 me the most sublime of all the realm of the plant world." This is, 

 indeed, high praise, but it is the opinion of an experienced world 

 traveler well qualified to make such a comparison. Von Thielmann's 

 descriptions of the locality in which the palms occur and of the palms 

 themselves agree very well with those of Andre, but he states that 

 the maximum diameter of the Quindio wax palm seldom exceeds 20 

 inches, which is somewhat greater than that of the palm Andre 

 measured. He describes the grace and beauty of the trees, their 

 silvery green foliage, and also notes that the fruits are of an orange- 

 red hue. From him we learn that the wax palms achieve their best 

 development when growing as scattered individuals and that they are 

 less tall, averaging only 130 feet in height, when occurring in closed 

 stands. Their growth is rapid, as is evidenced by the wide space 

 between the leaf-scar rings on the trunk. He discredits the fear ex- 

 pressed in Europe that these palms were in danger of extinction, 

 since he saw few trunks lying about on the ground and he found no 

 indication that the wax, although used locally for candles and 

 matches, was of sufficient importance as an article of oommerce to 

 suggest the exploitation and possible disappearance of the palms. 

 "As far as the eye can see, the tops of the palms bedeck one mountain 

 slope after another, and around isolated huts I found closed stands of 

 thousands." ^ 



•That these wax palms are still abundant and a very characteristic feature of the 

 flora of this region is indicated by the fact that Cuatrccasas lists them as a special ecologi- 

 cal unit, the palmetuin, in his recent study of the geobotany of Colombia. (Cuatrecasas 

 Jos6, Observaciones Geobotanicas en Colombia. Trab. Mus. Nac. Cienc. Natur., Ser. Bot., 

 no. 27, p. 70. 1934.) 



