Palma de Cera - The highest palm of the world

The Cocora Valley, as part of the Colombian Andes, shows you a great wildlife. One attraction is the Palma de Cera, the national tree of Colombia and the biggest palm on earth. There is something quite relaxing about this tree, because it´s growing very slowly and lives several centuries. A full-grown palm reaches a size about 50 meters. The Colombians call the tree wax palm because of the bark, which is made by thick wax. The famous German scientist Alexander von Humboldt discovered this huge tree on his journey through Colombia in 1801 and described it as one of his most interesting discovery.

In 1985 the government of Colombia declared the wax palm of the Cocora Valley as the national tree of Colombia. In the 19^th century the wax palm was still popular for the production of candles. It thick wax bark was easy and cheap to get.