Traveling to Ecuador in September: What native palms should I try to spot?

[chad2468emr]

Last week I found out that my unbelievably thoughtful husband bought us a trip to Ecuador for my birthday, and I’m beyond excited! We will have guided tours through the rainforest, (both during the day and at night) visiting the salt / clay cliffs where wild macaws and Amazon parrots are seen, touring local villages, and more. With how close to my heart the Amazon rainforest has always been, to put it bluntly, this is going to essentially be a spiritual experience for me. 

I’m admittedly not the greatest with knowing where some of the more obscure species of palms hail from. What species (I imagine a lot haha) are more notable from Ecuador? What should I keep an eye out to spot in their native habitat? We will be going to the outskirts of the rainforest around Tena, the high-elevation city of Quito, and also visiting Papallacta. 

After the trip, I will definitely be reporting back here with photos of what I was able to see!! 

[Darold Petty]

You will see many Parajubaea cocoides around Quito.  In the old, colonial district there is a Franciscan monastery with Ceroxylon parvifrons.  Don't bother to go to the tourist facility at the equator, it is not even on the exact latitude,  (Archaeologists have discovered a pre-Columbian astronomy ruin that is closer to the correct position) 

  Otavalo has a wonderful crafts market.  Quenca is a more beautiful city than Quito.  Loja has no interest for a tourist.

  My red form of Geonoma undata is found along the Pan-American highway between Vilcabamba and Valladolid, south of Loja.  There is a lot of Ceroxylon vogelianum there as well.

My first visit was the 1996 post-Biennial,  I have a list of the species we observed, I might be able to locate it on my messy desk !   

[chad2468emr]

1 hour ago, Darold Petty said:

You will see many Parajubaea cocoides around Quito.  In the old, colonial district there is a Franciscan monastery with Ceroxylon parvifrons.  Don't bother to go to the tourist facility at the equator, it is not even on the exact latitude,  (Archaeologists have discovered a pre-Columbian astronomy ruin that is closer to the correct position) 

  Otavalo has a wonderful crafts market.  Quenca is a more beautiful city than Quito.  Loja has no interest for a tourist.

  My red form of Geonoma undata is found along the Pan-American highway between Vilcabamba and Valladolid, south of Loja.  There is a lot of Ceroxylon vogelianum there as well.

My first visit was the 1996 post-Biennial,  I have a list of the species we observed, I might be able to locate it on my messy desk !   

Thank you for all this great info! It’s a guided tour that came as a package, so the itinerary is pretty set in stone, but there will be some time within each city where we’re turned loose to go explore. 

While Quito looks like a gorgeous city with amazing scenery from what I’ve gathered, I’m most excited for Tena for obvious reasons. It’s a lot more in-line with what pulls me towards South America given it’s proximity to the rainforest. 

[realarch]

Chad, well first off you’re going to love Ecuador and Quito is a fantastic. I found this little handbook indispensable especially dropping down into the Ecuadorian Amazon. (Your going to drive your husband a bit nuts.)

I posted some pics more than a few years ago, I’ll post the link……if I can find it.

Tim

 

[realarch]

Try this link 

Tim

 

[chad2468emr]

13 hours ago, realarch said:

Chad, well first off you’re going to love Ecuador and Quito is a fantastic. I found this little handbook indispensable especially dropping down into the Ecuadorian Amazon. (Your going to drive your husband a bit nuts.)

I posted some pics more than a few years ago, I’ll post the link……if I can find it.

Thank you for this! I’m definitely going to see if u can locate a copy of that. I’m very excited. Your pics are particularly encouraging as well!! 

He’s very used to being driven nuts by me. We can’t even drive around Orlando without my ranting about how adonidia are a poor fit but overly planted, all the queen palms that need fertilizer, droning on with excitement when I see a large royal and rambling about how they should be used more here, etc. 

[PalmatierMeg]

What a great trip you should have! You may see in habitat palms most people in the US haven't a prayer of growing, i.e., Geonoma undata. When I was in Puerto Rico a few years back we took a trip up into the cloud forest in the mountains. It was magical.