Puembo Wax Palm

Puembo wax palm is a tall Andean palm of humid premontane and lower montane forests in Ecuador and Peru. The local name “pumbo” is recorded in Ecuador, and the species also remains in pastures, coffee plots and forest remnants. [Kew](https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:305095-2/general-information) accepts Ceroxylon echinulatum in Arecaceae. ## Size and habitat A taxonomic revision describes stems usually 5–20 meters tall, exceptionally to 25 meters, with a crown of 7–15 leaves. The height range is about 16–66 feet; no numeric point is chosen from the range. The revision places the palm at 1,600–2,200 meters in humid premontane and lower montane forest. ## Landscape context The species belongs to a tropical montane ecosystem. Sources document its native habitat and local uses but do not establish cultivated width or hardiness. The current hardiness minimum is retained but remains unverified pending a direct horticultural source. ## Maintenance Choose a site suited to a high-elevation tropical palm and leave room for its eventual height. The cited botanical sources do not specify a pruning schedule; avoid cutting healthy fronds and remove damaged material only when necessary.