The Local Flora of Madeira

Madeira is most fascinating because, as a volcanic island almost 1000 km from the Moroccan coast, there are relatively few indigenous animals. When the first settlers came here just 600 years ago, the only mammals on the island were a species of bat. However, the island was quite effectively dominated by a variety of local flora, due to its generally temperate yet diverse climate. We spent much of yesterday’s hikes stopping to observe the plant life (and catch our breath). One plant in particular jumped out at me, which was intensely fragrant with a full head of tight yellow blooms. I couldn’t find any information about it online, but was lucky enough to stumble upon a local herb merchant who had a single hidden bunch of the flowers hanging amongst the herbs. It turns out this is Helichrysum foetidum, an African plant used traditionally for infectious diseases, conjunctivitis, and to heal festering sores. Most interestingly, it’s apparently smoked by some healers in Africa to induce trance states. I also picked up a few wildcrafted indigenous herbs, including some local chamomile, laurel (and a medicinal laurel fungus), Madeira ironwort, and a few other unique plants. One of my favorite parts of traveling to new places is getting to know the local healing plants and traditions. Especially in a little microcosm like Madeira, there’s so much to uncover.
Also very excited to stumble upon some familiar Indo-Tibetan medicinal trees growing in the local parks, including Butea monosperma (མ་རུ་རྩེ་) and Justicia adhatoda (བ་ཤ་ཀ་).