The Pepper Tree That Mended Nets
Leste
In a city built on sardines, this street tree used to work for the fleet. The parish records that the resin of the Brazilian pepper was used on fishing nets, a treatment that stiffened and waterproofed the fibres and slowed the rot that salt water works on anything organic. Setubal canned fish on an industrial scale from the nineteenth century onwards and the port is still the reason the city exists, so an ornamental avenue tree quietly feeding the tackle shed is a better fact than most trees on this page can offer. The species is Brazilian, related to the cashew and the mango, and it is the source of the pink peppercorns sold in supermarket grinders, which are not true pepper at all. It fruits heavily in autumn and winter, hanging clusters of small bright red drupes on a tree that is otherwise unremarkable, and that is the moment to see it. It is about eighty-three years old and thirteen metres tall, which is respectable rather than impressive; the story is the reason it is here.
From people who stood here
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Getting there
Avenida Manuel Maria Portela, 2900 Setubal
You can recognise it in autumn and winter by clusters of small, bright red drupes hanging from an otherwise unremarkable street tree. It stands on Avenida Manuel Maria Portela.
East of the centre, about 15 min walk
In fruit
late autumn, when the clusters of pink peppercorns turn red
Sources
Where the facts on this page come from. The story was written with AI from these sources, and readers who know the tree correct it.
- In the official register: Arvoredo de Interesse Público (ICNF), no. KNJ1/528
- si.icnf.pt
- uf-setubal.pt
- ICNF, Arvoredo de Interesse Publico (Portugal's national register of trees of public interest), no. KNJ1/528
