The Cypress of Quinta Magnolia

Madeirans call this species cedro-das-barracas, the shed cedar, because the young leading shoot was traditionally cut off so the crown would thicken outward into a roof of shade. Nobody did that to this one. It went up instead: 29.5 metres tall on a trunk 6.06 metres around, more than a metre of solid diameter, which the island's register singles out as exceptional for a Cupressus lusitanica and enough to make it one of the largest of its kind on Madeira. The species is not Portuguese, whatever the name says. It comes from Mexico and Central America, and it took its Latin name from trees already growing in Portugal rather than from anywhere near its actual origin. Its age is not recorded. The register gives its condition as bom, good, and notes that it is under permanent technical monitoring, which is what the island does with trees it has no intention of losing. Nobody has dated it, and if you know when it was planted, tell us. It stands in Quinta Magnolia, a public park of some 40,000 square metres in the middle of Funchal, free and open from eight in the morning until eight at night, which makes this the easiest tree on the list to go and see.