Secularise to conserve: The history of the wax palm in Colombia

This paper is about the historical presence of the wax palm (Ceroxylon quindiuensis) in Colombian history. Specifically, I investigate how following its recognition as a ‘National Tree’ in 1985 by the Colombian Congress, the conservation of this botanical oddity became a priority. I stress how part of the conservation strategy comprised the desacralization of this plant which had been traditionally used in the celebration of the Holly Week’s Palm Sunday. This desacralization process occurred through synergetic interactions between botanists who highlighted the poor state of this palm's natural populations, the press that spread the message emanating from the scientist, and the local environmental organizations. This latter organised conservation campaigns which not only focused on the wax palm but on organisms such as the yellow-eared parrot (Ognorhynchus icterotis) which depends on the wax palm's existence to escape its own extinction. This paper sheds light on the uniqueness of the wax palm conservation history, stressing how to preserve this palm the religious practices and its role as a national tree interact not always free of conflict. This paper concludes that the complexity involved in this process is the result of the constant presence of the wax palm in the country’s symbolic and material universe and how the conservation of this species cannot be detached from preserving its habitat, namely the Andean Forest.