Urzela

There are three lichens known in the Madeira archipelago by the name 'urzela': Nemaria fuciformis, N. rooella, and N. fucoides. These species, which contain a red dye, were formerly exported in large quantities, but with the industrial processes of aniline extraction, their use in dyeing is now null. Nemaria rocella and N. fuciformis were mainly collected in the Desertas, but both are abundant on the rocks of the north and south of Madeira. Even in the time when Frutuoso wrote the 'Saudades da Terra', urzela was collected in Madeira, and the trade and export of this lichen lasted until the mid-19th century.