Orange tree
Original title: Laranjeira
Entry on the orange tree in Madeira, covering the sweet and bitter orange, their medicinal use, and the tangerine grown in Funchal gardens.
A tree of the family Rutaceae, native to the Himalayas. Its botanical name is Citrus Aurantium, and two subspecies are grown on the island: amara, known as the bitter orange (laranjeira azeda), and sinensis, known as the sweet or China orange (laranjeira doce or da China). The sweet oranges produced in Madeira are almost always inferior to those that come from Portugal and São Miguel.
The leaves and flowers of orange trees are used as an infusion for nervous diseases and difficult digestion.
The bitter orange, the one most used in medicine, is little grown in Madeira, and its fruit, which used to sell very cheaply, can only be eaten as a preserve.
Tangerines, or tangerine oranges, are produced by Citrus nobilis, a species native to China which is grown in many gardens in Funchal.
In this article
Place
Places mentioned · 05
Abroad
- China
Origin of the tangerine species.
China is cited in the Elucidário as the country of origin of many plants grown in Madeira, including the tangerine, most bamboos, the apricot, the peach, the dwarf banana, the boganga and the cacho roxo. It is also named as one of the places where the palanquin was used to carry persons of rank.
- Funchal
Tangerines are grown in many of its gardens.
The capital of the archipelago and seat of the principal captaincy, where settlement began; it was made a vila c.1451–52. Its bay, the widest in the archipelago, lies between Ponta do Garajau and Ponta da Cruz and offers sheltered anchorage, though its harbour had never been studied oceanographically. The Elucidário discusses it as a health resort with climate data and records the January 1906 disturbances, the Danish prince's visit in May 1846 and recent volcanic cones in the area.
- Himalayas
Asia. Stated place of origin of the orange tree.
The Himalaya is the mountain region named in the Elucidário as the place of origin of the orange tree and the lemon tree.
- Portugal
Source of oranges superior to Madeiran ones.
Portugal, the mother country of Madeira. The Elucidário notes that artillery detachments were sent from the mainland to garrison Madeira before 1877, that Madeira was linked to Portugal by telegraph cable in 1874, and that woad and gifts of honey were formerly sent there from the island. Mainland oranges and olives are compared favourably with those of Madeira and Porto Santo.
- São Miguel
Portugal. Azorean island whose oranges surpass Madeira's.
An Azorean island discovered by Gonçalo Velho Cabral. Its captaincy was bought and governed by Rui Gonçalves da Câmara, son of Zargo. It was the birthplace of Brito Rebelo, and Frutuoso wrote his work there in 1590; its oranges are said to surpass Madeira's.