Top 10 Madeira (Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guides)
Top 10 Madeira (Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guides)
Top 10 Madeira (Eyewitness Top 10 Travel Guides)
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
<strong>Madeira</strong>’s <strong>Top</strong> <strong>10</strong><br />
22<br />
Left <strong>Madeira</strong>n geranium Middle Pride of <strong>Madeira</strong> Right Giant buttercups<br />
Plants on <strong>Madeira</strong><br />
! <strong>Madeira</strong>n Geranium<br />
The <strong>Madeira</strong>n geranium, also<br />
known as cranesbill (Geranium<br />
maderense), has become a popular<br />
garden plant all over Europe<br />
because of its shrubby stature,<br />
feathery leaves and large purpleveined<br />
magenta flowers.<br />
Pride of <strong>Madeira</strong> @ Pride of <strong>Madeira</strong> (Echium<br />
candicans) is almost the island’s<br />
symbol. Blooming with an<br />
abundance of long-lasting<br />
powder-blue flower spikes at<br />
exactly the time of year (from<br />
December to March) when other<br />
flowers are shy, it adorns the<br />
island’s roadsides, notably around<br />
the airport.<br />
£ Lily-of-the-valley Tree<br />
You could pass this shrub<br />
(Clethra arborea, or folhado in<br />
Portuguese) nine months out of<br />
twelve and not even notice it,<br />
but from August to October it is<br />
a stunner, hung all over with<br />
sweet-smelling clusters of belllike<br />
flowers of purest white.<br />
<strong>Madeira</strong>n juniper<br />
$ Tree Heath<br />
Related to heather, and with<br />
similar pink bell-like flowers,<br />
<strong>Madeira</strong>’s tree heaths (Erica<br />
arborea) can grow to a quite<br />
prodigious size; a carbonized tree<br />
heath trunk in <strong>Madeira</strong>’s Natural<br />
History Museum (see p20)<br />
probably lived for several<br />
hundred years. Tree heath<br />
branches are used locally for<br />
fencing and windbreaks.<br />
% Giant Buttercups<br />
<strong>Madeira</strong>’s subtropical climate<br />
seems to encourage plants to<br />
turn into giants. Here, Poinsettias<br />
grow 4 m (12 ft) tall, and heaths<br />
are trees rather than shrubs.<br />
This tall shrubby buttercup<br />
(Ranunculus cortusifolia) is a<br />
very handsome plant that looks<br />
good anywhere.<br />
Scented Bay ^ The essential flavouring<br />
ingredient in <strong>Madeira</strong>’s national<br />
dish, espetada (beef kebabs), is<br />
the scented bay (Laurus azorica,<br />
or loureiro in Portuguese). It has<br />
aromatic evergreen leaves and<br />
grows abundantly in the wild.<br />
<strong>Madeira</strong>n Juniper & Confusingly called cedro<br />
(cedar) in Portuguese, the dark<br />
wood of the <strong>Madeira</strong>n juniper<br />
has a rich patina that can be<br />
readily seen in the knotwork<br />
ceilings of Funchal Cathedral<br />
(see p9), Santa Clara Convent<br />
(see p16) and the church in<br />
Calheta (see p82).
Change language