320 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1936 



concerning it in the intervening 70 years; perhaps it only awaits 

 rediscovery. Inasmuch as this palm secretes resinous wax just under 

 the surface rather than on the outside of the trunk, and because of 

 certain other botanical features, Engel placed it in a new genus, 

 Beethovenia (Linnaea, pp. 677-680, 1865). This name is now 

 retained as its specific name in the genus Ceroxylon. 



Engel becomes most eloquent in explaining his reasons for naming 

 this genus for the musician, Beethoven. He tells of the emotion 

 which overcame him when he finally beheld the "sublime spectacle" 

 of these palms. "When the exalted voices and symphonies whisper 

 down to the listening soul from the crowns of the palms, making one 

 forget all privations and physical sufferings", this experience, writes 

 Engel, is akin to the spiritual rapture evoked by the music of the 

 great master, which has the power to transport the soul beyond the 

 material realm. He asks if it is not, then, permissible to name such 

 a noble palm for the immortal composer. 



Wax palms have only recently (1929) been described from Peru 

 by Burret. None of these species exceed 40 feet in height and they 

 do not appear to be as interesting as those farther north, although 

 they grow at high altitudes (5,900 to 9,675 feet). There are speci- 

 mens in the United States National Herbarium collected by Dr. 

 O. F. Cook of the Bureau of Plant Industry, United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, on one of his expeditions to Peru (1915). 

 Whether the wax palms extend into Bolivia remains to be discovered. 



Few of us, indeed, will have the good fortune of seeing the wax 

 palms in their native home. So far, attempts to introduce the 

 Quindio palm into cultivation have been mainly confined to Europe ; 

 these have met with failure. No region is known in Europe which 

 shows a climate comparable to that of the high Andes. But there 

 is every reason to believe that most of the species of wax palms, 

 even the magnificent Quindio species, could be grown in certain 

 portions of the United States. To be sure, the warm subtropical 

 regions of this country are undoubtedly far too hot in summer, and 

 the high altitudes of our mountain regions are far too cold in win- 

 ter. However, a relatively narrow strip, only a few miles wide, 

 along the Pacific coast of the United States from the vicinity of 

 Grays Harbor, Wash.,^^ to San Diego, Calif., has a climate remark- 

 ably similar to that of the high Andes between 6,000 and 12,000 

 feet altitude. The summers are very cool, and the winter climate 

 is unusually warm for these latitudes (32°30' to 47° N.). Dr. 

 Walter T. Swingle, of the Bureau of Plant Industry, United States 

 Department of Agriculture, who predicted the success of choice Old 



I 



'' The U. S. Weather Bureau records are from Lone Tree, Wash., on the northern shore 

 of the entrance to Grays Harbor. 



