Ceroxylon alpinum

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Figure 1. Ceroxylon alpinum in native habitat, Cocora Valley.

Synonymy:

Ceroxylon andicolum

Common Names:

Andean Wax Palm

Distribution & Habitat:

Columbian, and Venezuelan cloud forest, at about 2000m above sea level in the Andes.

Description:

A very tall, solitary, pinnate palm, up to 30m tall, with dark green leaves, that are powdery white underneath

Culture:

Cool, sheltered and moist. Prefers a mild temperate climate, and doesn't like hot weather. Very slow growing.

These Ceroxylons were at about 2000 meters at the upper limit of their range (1500-2000 meters), right below Ceroxylon quindiuense in cloudforest area. The climate is cool and moist year round, with not much variation. They are endangered in Colombia because they grow in premontane wet forest, which is premium Coffee growing country. I'm not sure how often it rains, but there is a lot of fog usually which keeps it moist. There were a few alpinums above this area, but all cultivated. Ceroxylon quindiuense grows from 2000-3100 meters above sea level. C. alpinum is probably more heat tolerant than C. quindiuense is.

Figure 2. Ceroxylon alpinum in habitat

Contributed by:

Michael Calonje, Collectors Seeds (Figure 1&2)

External Links:

Kew, PalmWeb, IUCN, JSTOR, Trebrown

Google, GoogleImages, Flickr, PalmTalk