WAX PALMS ALONG THE QUINDIO TRAIL 

 Eastern slope of the Central Andes {East Andean Suhtropical Fauna) 



The trail across the Central Andes from the Cauca Valley to the Magdalena Valley over the Quindio 

 Pass has been traveled for centuries. The country along the trail on the foothills of the western slope 

 up to 9000 ft. (beginning of Temperate Zone) is more or less under cultivation. Before reaching this 

 elevation one begins to catch occasional glimpses ahead of the brown paramo and white snowfields of 

 Santa Isabel and Tolima, the latter the highest Andean peak. The divide is passed at 11.500 feet and 

 the descent begun over the eastern slope down to the Magdalena. Wax palms appear on this eastern 

 slope a thousand feet below the divide in the Temperate Zone and are the most abundant tree along 

 the trail down through the Subtropical Zone. 



These stately trees, discovered here by Humboldt and Bonpland in 1801, attain a height of from 180 

 to 200 feet. They are of especial interest to the ornithologist as the home of the yellow-eared parrot 

 (Ognorhynchus icterotis) . In places along the trail, every palm was occupied by a pair of parrots 



492 



