Faia (Myrica Faya)

Tree or shrub of the Myricaceae family, common in Madeira. It has glabrous leaves, obovate-lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, usually serrated, dioecious flowers, and drupe fruits, initially red and then black, grouped in small clusters due to the adherence of the female flowers. The faia produces good firewood, and its stems are used for stakes in many points of the north coast. Its bark is tannic, its wood is dull in color, sometimes tending towards pink, and its apparently polyspermic and granular fruits have a pleasant taste when fully ripe. The European faia (Fagus silvatica, L.) is cultivated in some estates in Monte.