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Ceroxylon quindiuense
Also called Quindio Wax Palm
Quindío wax palm is a very tall palm of the cool, misty Andean cloud forests of Colombia and northern Peru, valued as a striking ornamental. It is the tallest monocot known and needs cool, humid conditions and room to grow.
Ceroxylon quindiuense, often called Quindío wax palm, is a palm native to the humid montane forests of the Andes in Colombia and Peru.
The wax of the trunk was used to make candles, especially in the 19th century. The outer part of the stem of the palm has been used locally for building houses, and was used to build water supply systems for impoverished farmers. It is cultivated as an ornamental plant in Colombia and California.
It grows in large and dense populations along the central and eastern Andes of Colombia (rarely in the western Colombian Andes), with a disjunct distribution in the Andes of northern Peru. The elevational range of this species is between 2,000 and 3,100 m (6,600 and 10,200 ft) above sea level. It achieves a minimum reproductive age at 80 years. Wax palms provide habitats for many unique life forms, including endangered species such as the yellow-eared parrot (Ognorhynchus icterotis).
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Ceroxylon quindiuense by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
