Madeira blueberry
Vaccinium padifolium
Family · Ericaceae · Irritating
Madeira's blueberry, which forms whole thickets in the high zones above the laurisilva and whose berries shepherds ate on the high trails. Greenish bell flowers with dark veins.
Uplands · Scrubland
Also known asMadeira whortleberry
How to tell it
A shrub or small tree to five metres, with reddish scaly bark. Alternate, oval, serrated deciduous leaves that turn red in autumn. Short bell flowers, yellow-green with reddish stripes or dots, hanging. Dark blue to black bloomed berries. Range: endemic to Madeira.
What it is confused with
Azores blueberry
Vaccinium cylindraceum
Both are island blueberries and both bear edible berries. Flower and archipelago separate them: the Azorean has long cylindrical tubular flowers, the Madeiran short broad bells. And each exists only on its own islands.
What it is for
The berries are eaten and are a tradition on Madeira's high trails, especially on Paul da Serra and Areeiro. A protected species: pick fruit and do not cut.
Traditionally used as food. This is not permission to eat it.
The law says
Protected under the Habitats Directive. Picking fruit for your own use is tolerated; cutting or uprooting is not.
Where it occurs
Each square is an area with recorded observations of this plant. The lighter background is the set of areas where any of the entries has been observed, and serves as a reference. Note what this is not: it is not where the plant lives, it is where people record it, so trails and towns always look fuller than the mountains. Data from GBIF.
Sources
Community
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