PALM S Roca: Parajubaea cocoides Vol. 54(3) 2010 Parajubaea FERNANDO ROCA Pontifical Catholic cocoides , a University of Peru (PUCP), Malecón de la Reserva 981, Miraflores, Lima 18 , Peru New Record
[email protected] for Peru 1. Crowns of Parajubaea cocoides. Parajubaea cocoides (Fig. 1) is recorded for the first time in the wild, in Peru. The Cordillera of the Andes in Peru, rising level. The Cordillera carries remnants of very from the Pacific coast in the west and dipping humid rainforest frequently covered in clouds. down into the Amazon River basin in the east, This forest is loosely termed by villagers, high ranges from 1000 to 3500 meters above sea forest ( selva alta ), rupa rupa , yungas or “eyebrow PALMS 54(3): 133 –136 133 PALM S Roca: Parajubaea cocoides Vol. 54(3) 2010 forest” ( ceja de selva ). This way of characterizing department of Lima, along Peru’s central coast. the forest is more common on the eastern These ecosystems of cloud forest are flank that slopes down toward the Amazon characterized by a very high biodiversity and River basin. intense rainfall, which is accentuated along the Pacific Ocean when the phenomenon of However, on the western slope that fronts the “El Niño” occurs. Pacific Ocean, mainly along Peru’s northern coast (in the departments of Piura, Within the great biodiversity of these Lambayeque and La Libertad) one can still find ecosystems, it is quite common to find palms patches of tropical cloud forest that formerly at different altitudes in these yungas or cloud extended from Ecuador almost to the twelfth forests, particularly C eroxylon accompanied by parallel in the south, in what is now the Syagrus , Wettinia and Iriartea .