Phoenician juniper (Juniperus phoenicea)
Original title: Zimbreiro (Juniperus phoenicea)
The Phoenician juniper, a shrub or small tree once common in the archipelago, now rare; several place names derive from it.
A shrub, rarely a small tree, 1 to 5 metres tall, usually with a twisted trunk; the leaves are scale-like, imbricate and almost always appressed; the galbuli are subglobose and dark brown when ripe. This member of the Pinaceae has been found at Rocha do Navio, in Santana, on the Caminho de Larano (Porto da Cruz), etc. On Porto Santo (‘holy harbour’), where it was once very common, only a single specimen survived in 1903, on the slopes of Pico Branco (‘white peak’). It yields white or yellowish-white wood, much less aromatic than that of the cedar.
The localities of Zimbreiros at Paul do Mar and at Caniço, and of Zimbral de Areia and Zimbralinha on Porto Santo, probably take their names from the junipers (zimbreiros) that grew there in former times.
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 01Place
Places mentioned · 07
- Caminho de Larano
Machico. Path where the juniper has been found.
Path where the juniper has been found.
- Pico Branco
Porto Santo. Where the last Porto Santo juniper survived in 1903.
Mountain in north-eastern Porto Santo, about 420–423 m high. The last Porto Santo juniper survived there in 1903.
- Rocha do Navio
Santana. Site where the juniper has been found.
Rocha do Navio is a coastal locality and cliff in Santana that gives its name to a nearby islet, where the Dutch galliot Alfa was wrecked in 1860. Juniper (Juniperus phoenicea) has been found there, and the cliff is recommended for its scenery.
- Zimbral de Areia
Porto Santo. Locality probably named after former junipers.
Locality probably named after former junipers.
- Zimbralinha
Porto Santo. Locality probably named after former junipers.
Locality probably named after former junipers.
- Zimbreiros
Calheta. Locality probably named after former junipers.
Locality probably named after former junipers.
- Zimbreiros
Santa Cruz. Locality probably named after former junipers.
Locality probably named after former junipers.