Prickly pear (Opuntia Turvei)
Original title: Tabaibeira (Opuntia Turvei)
The tabaibeira, a prickly-pear cactus from tropical America naturalised and grown in Madeira's lower zone, whose sweet fruits are eaten and whose pads and peel feed livestock.
A member of the cactus family native to tropical America, naturalised and cultivated in the lower zone (coastal belt) of Madeira. The berry-like fruits of the prickly pear (tabaibeira) are sweet and refreshing, and the fleshy, succulent, flattened and jointed branches of the plant (commonly called leaves) make good fodder for livestock once they have been cleaned of their spines.
The peel of the tabaibos (the fruits) is used to feed pigs. A few prickly pears grow at Campo de Baixo (‘lower field’) and Serra de Dentro (‘inner upland’) on the island of Porto Santo (‘holy harbour’).