Ticket needed. Paid entry (Palheiro Gardens): adults EUR 11, ages 15-17 EUR 6, children free, Madeira residents EUR 6 with proof of residence; open daily 09:00-17:00, every day of the year except Christmas Day.
The Pohutukawa of Quinta do Palheiro Ferreiro
not documentedPohutukawapin approximate
Which one is it? A low spreading crown with curtains of aerial root off the older limbs, red with stamens in May and June. It is the only New Zealander among the garden's monumental trees.
Funchal's list of monumental trees names nine more entries inside this one garden: a tulip tree, a til, a Queensland araucaria, an oak, an Atlas cedar, a camphor tree, a sequoia, a Canary pine and groups of planes. The one this page picks is the New Zealander. Metrosideros excelsa, the pohutukawa, grows wild on sea cliffs at the top of New Zealand's North Island and almost nowhere else, gripping rock with the aerial roots that hang off its older limbs. At home it flowers scarlet through the southern December, which is how it became New Zealand's Christmas tree. In Portugal it does the same thing in May and June, half a year out of step with its own name. This specimen is code 192 on the municipal table, entered as Metrosidero under Quinta do Palheiro Ferreiro, from the same 2008 regional survey that supplies the rest of Funchal's list. It carries no age and no measurement of any kind. Palheiro Gardens sits about 500 metres up in the hills east of the city, fifteen to twenty minutes by car or taxi, so this is the tree you plan a morning around rather than pass on a walk. Entry is 11 euros, six for residents and for anyone between fifteen and seventeen, free for children, and the gates open every day of the year except Christmas Day. If somebody has put a tape around this trunk, send us the number.
The button above opens directions in your maps app. Caminho do Palheiro, in the hills east of Funchal (about 500m altitude); reachable by taxi or car, roughly 15-20 minutes from central Funchal, or bus toward Sao Goncalo/Camacha plus a walk.
The pin marks the right spot roughly, not the tree itself. It stands here, but we have not confirmed the precise position on the ground yet. Know exactly where it is?
- Species
- Pohutukawa (Metrosideros excelsa)
- Age estimate
- not documented
- Location
- Quinta do Palheiro Ferreiro (Palheiro Gardens), Caminho do Palheiro 32, Sao Goncalo, Funchal (Sao Goncalo, Funchal)
- Access
- Paid entry (Palheiro Gardens): adults EUR 11, ages 15-17 EUR 6, children free, Madeira residents EUR 6 with proof of residence; open daily 09:00-17:00, every day of the year except Christmas Day.
- Getting there
- Caminho do Palheiro, in the hills east of Funchal (about 500m altitude); reachable by taxi or car, roughly 15-20 minutes from central Funchal, or bus toward Sao Goncalo/Camacha plus a walk.
Trees nearby
Ticking this one off, walks past several more, and your collection growing city by city: that is the Ancient Trees app.
Get the appThis page was researched from a distance. If you know this tree, you know things we do not: the species, the age, the size, whether the photo shows the right tree, or that it is gone. Every field on this page can be corrected.
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