Article Nº 1884 Plant Vol. II · p. 337
Isca (Phagnalon saxatile)
A small composite subshrub common throughout the archipelago, whose crushed branches are used, especially in Porto Santo, to make tinder.
A small subshrub of the family Compositae, very common on all the islands of the archipelago. On Porto Santo (‘holy harbour’) its branches, once crushed, are made into a very coarse tinder, which is nevertheless widely used by the inhabitants of that island, especially the fishermen.
In former times a great deal of tinder was also made from Phagnalon in Madeira, and the uses to which this plant can be put are still known to many people today.
Places mentioned