Figueira do Inferno

Three species are known by this name in Madeira, two of them indigenous and one cultivated. The indigenous species are Euphorbia mellifera and E. piscatória, the latter always shrubby, the former sometimes arboreal; the cultivated species is Ficus stipulata, widely used to cover walls and also known by the name devil's fig tree. Euphorbia mellifera, known in some parts of the island by the name alindres or alhendros, is found in Achadas da Cruz, Seixal, Ribeiro Frio, etc.; E. piscatoria is common in coastal areas. The latex produced by the cut branches of this last species is used by fishermen to blind or stun the fish that appear in the tidal pools.