ILLUSTRATIONS (15). PALMS. 297 



of the tropics, which, if I mistake not, was wholly unknown 

 before my South American journey. Almost all these species 

 of the palm family grow in plains and in a mean temperature 

 of 81. 5 and 86 Fahr., seldom advancing higher up the sides 

 of the Andes than to 1900 feet. The beautiful wax palm 

 (Ceroxylon andicold), the Palmetto of Azufral at the Pass of 

 Quindiu, ( Oreodoxa frigida), and the reed-like Kunthia mon- 

 tana (Cana de la Vibora) of Pasto, all flourish at elevations 

 varying from 6400 to 9600 feet above the level of the sea, 

 where the thermometer frequently sinks in the night to 42. 8 

 and 45. 5 Fahr., and the mean temperature is scarcely 57 

 Fahr. These Alpine palms are interspersed with nut-trees, 

 yew -leaved species of Podocarpus, and oaks, ( Quercus grana- 

 ten&is]. I have determined, by accurate barometric measure- 

 ments, the upper and lower limits of the wax palm. We 

 began to observe it first on the eastern declivity of the Cor- 

 dilleras of Quindiu, at an elevation of 7929 feet, from whence 

 it ascended to the Garita del Paramo, and Los Volca- 

 ncitos, as high as about 9700 feet. The distinguished botanist, 

 Don Jose Caldas, who was long our companion in the moun- 

 tains of New Granada, and who fell a victim to Spanish party 

 hatred, found, many years after my departure from the 

 country, three species of palms in the Paramo de Guanacos, 

 in the immediate vicinity of the limit of perpetual snow, and 

 therefore, probably at an elevation of nearly 14,000 feet.* 

 Even beyond the tropical region (in lat. 28), Chamaerops 

 Martianaf rises on the advanced spurs of the Himalaya 

 range to a height of 5000 feet. 



When we consider the extreme geographical and, conse- 

 quently, also the climatic limits of palms at spots which are but 

 little elevated above the level of the sea, we find that some 

 forms (the Date Palm, Chamcerops humilis, Ch. palmetto, and 

 Areca sapida of New Zealand,) advance far within the tem- 

 perate zone of both hemispheres, to districts where the mean 

 annual temperature scarcely reaches from 57 to 60 Fahr. If 

 we form a progressive scale of cultivated plants in accordance 

 with the different degrees of heat they require, and begin 

 with the maximum, we have Cacao, Indigo, Bananas, Coffee, 

 Cotton, Date Palms, Orange and Lemon trees, Olives, Spanish 



* Semanario de Santa Fe de Bogota, 1809, No. 21, p. 163. 

 f Wallich, Plantce asiaticce, vol. iii. tab. 211. 



