BOTANY. 



v i . ,, , , a ■ ■ ■ ••„,•. i ,, 



Cauca, this tree chiefly abounds, amidst the most rug- 

 ged precipices and barren passes of the country. 



This Palm Tree is also a Native of Quindiu, one of 

 the mountainous and snowy regions of Peru, and is called 

 the Ceroxylon to distinguish it from the Palm Trees already 

 known : it is said sometimes to reach the amazing height of 

 160 to 180 feet. The trunk is straight and swelling out in 

 the middle, bearing at the top its immense branches in 

 various directions. The fruit is small and round, containing 

 an oval kernel ; the flowers are of two sorts, growing out of 

 a sheath ; the hermaphrodite and the female j and are not 

 remarkable for their beauty or their size. 



The most extraordinary circumstance relating to this 

 Tree, is the secretion of Wax, containing a small propor- 

 tion of Rosin, through the whole outside surface of its bark, 

 on each side of the circles where there have been the mark? 

 of the former leaves. 



Pliny makes mention of a Larix Tree which was used 

 in the Amphitheatre of Nero, and was 120 feet in heighth ; 

 but the Tree at present under consideration, may be indeed 

 regarded as the Monarch of all the Forests of the World, 

 if its gigantic size can entitle it to that distinction, 



No advantageous use has hitherto been made either of 

 the Wax, which invests the bark of this Tree, or of the 

 Fruit, both of which might it is supposed be converted to 

 the uses of mankind ; the former for giving light ; the 

 latter as a pleasant and wholesome food, and containing 

 much sugar. The Timber is of a firm texture, and capable 

 of being formed into beams and rafters for houses ; but the 

 difficulty of removal from its original mountainous situation 

 will perhaps be for ever an inseparable bar to its general user 

 and consumption. 



