Faia (Myrica faya)
The faia (Myrica faya), a common Madeiran tree or shrub valued for firewood, stakes and tannin-rich bark; the European beech is also grown in some Monte quintas.
A tree or shrub of the family Myricaceae, common in Madeira. It has glabrous leaves, obovate-lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate and usually serrated, dioecious flowers and drupaceous fruits, red at first and later black, gathered in small clusters because the female flowers adhere to one another. The faia yields good firewood, and its stems are used for stakes in many places on the north coast. Its bark is rich in tannin, its wood is dull in colour, sometimes tending to pink, and its fruits, apparently many-seeded and granular, taste pleasant when fully ripe. The European beech (Fagus silvatica, L.) is grown in some quintas in Monte (‘hill’).
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Place
Places mentioned · 02
- Monte
Funchal. Parish where the European beech is grown in some quintas.
Parish of Nossa Senhora do Monte above Funchal, at about 600 m, where leafing occurs later than in Funchal. It contains the localities of Jardim Botânico, Igreja and Marmeleiros and the Quinta de Sant'Ana. The Elucidário notes its many plants, such as acacias and Sonchus fruticosus.
- North coast
Area where faia stems are used as stakes.
The Costa Norte is the north side of Madeira. The Elucidário records that the balseira system was used there, that rock samphire (perrixil) is abundant there and that faia stems are used there as stakes. Some northern localities are served by the Ribeira Brava quay, and António do Carvalhal held lands there and could raise men.