What is the difference in palm waxes?

[Stella1952]

Antique Collector got my brain goin' today with a question about carnauba wax. I was surprised to learn that this is palm wax, made from a species of palm that grows mostly in Brazil. My palm wax comes from Malaysia and is in granulated form, not the flakes form I saw in photos of carnauba wax. There is also a large price difference between the carnauba and the palm wax I purchase. Somehow it never occurred to me that there are so many plant sources for palm wax...DUH!!

So here's my question: does anyone know anything about the different types of palm wax - properties, sources, etc.?

I Googled for information and it only got more confusing from there, as I found there are MANY different plant sources for palm wax!

...from freedictionary.com:

"1. wax palm - South American palm yielding a wax similar to carnauba wax caranda, caranda palm, caranday, Copernicia alba, Copernicia australis

fan palm - palm having palmate or fan-shaped leaves

Copernicia, genus Copernicia - slow-growing tropical fan palms

2. wax palm - Brazilian fan palm having an edible root; source of a useful leaf fiber and a brittle yellowish wax carnauba palm, Copernicia cerifera, Copernicia prunifera, carnauba

fan palm - palm having palmate or fan-shaped leaves

Copernicia, genus Copernicia - slow-growing tropical fan palms

carnauba, carnauba wax - hard yellowish to brownish wax from leaves of the carnauba palm used especially in floor waxes and polishes

3. wax palm - palm of the Andes yielding a resinous wax which is mixed with tallow to make candles Ceroxylon alpinum, Ceroxylon andicola

feather palm - palm having pinnate or featherlike leaves

Ceroxylon, genus ceroxylon - wax palms"

I am wondering if the widely varying results we get with palm has something to do with the actual type of palm from which it is made... I read that the hardest type has a melting point of like 180° (obviously not the kind I use), so there HAS to be significant differences among the kinds of wax (not to mention the manufacturer's additives...). It's pretty obvious that palm waxes are not as "standardized" as paraffins are and I am trying to get an understanding of this so I can get the effects I want first time, every time...