Figueira do Inferno
Vernacular name for three plants in Madeira: the native Euphorbia mellifera and E. piscatoria, and the cultivated Ficus stipulata; the latex of E. piscatoria was used by fishermen to stun fish.
Three species are known by this name in Madeira, two of them native and one cultivated. The native species are Euphorbia mellifera and E. piscatoria, the latter always shrubby, the former sometimes tree-like; the cultivated species is Ficus stipulata, much used to cover walls, which is also known as figueira do diabo (devil’s fig). Euphorbia mellifera, known in some parts of the island as alindres or alhendros, is found at Achadas da Cruz, Seixal, Ribeiro Frio, etc.; E. piscatoria is common on coastal ground. The latex produced by the cut branches of this last species is used by fishermen to blind or stun the fish found in rock pools by the sea.
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Place
Places mentioned · 03
- Achadas da Cruz
Porto Moniz. Locality where Euphorbia mellifera grows.
Achadas da Cruz is a small parish in the far north-west of Madeira, in the municipality of Porto Moniz; it grew from a sixteenth-century chapel and became an independent parish in 1848. It was transferred between municipalities several times: to Porto Moniz in 1835, briefly to Calheta in 1849–55, and to Calheta again when Porto Moniz was abolished in 1895. Its flat is the smallest plateau, with a crater-like lagoon 66 m across; free-ranging cattle and Euphorbia mellifera are found there. Other records include the benefactor Manuel de Pontes Câmara and the wreck of the yacht Varuna in 1909.
- Ribeiro Frio
Santana. Locality where Euphorbia mellifera grows.
Ribeiro Frio is an inland locality at 750 m, about 15 km from Funchal, famed for its scenery, laurel and heath woodland and rare plants, including holly and Euphorbia mellifera. Its stream is a tributary of the Ribeira do Faial and feeds the Levada do Furado and the state levada irrigating Porto da Cruz. It lies on road 24 and has a rain-gauge post.
- Seixal
Porto Moniz. Locality where Euphorbia mellifera grows.
Parish on the north coast of Madeira, created in 1553 and part of the municipality of Porto Moniz; it was temporarily attached to São Vicente when Porto Moniz was suppressed. It has a quay and the Ponta do Buraco, and was damaged by the 1895 flood. The Elucidário records native plants growing there and names it as the birthplace of João de Azevedo.