The Pepper Tree That Mended Nets

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.