The
white berries bush (Corema album) It is a small shrub that produces between the months of July and September small white edible berries, with appearance of small pearls, the "camarinhas". Often they are found in dunes along the beaches or in pine forests, however, they are unique to the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula, being in greater numbers in the King's Pine Forest.
Legend says that the white berries come from the tears of Queen Isabel, wife of King D. Dinis.
D. Dinis was undoubtedly a good King, a legendary poet, however, as husband despite being kind, It was not much given to fidelity, something that made the Queen D. Isabel.
In the court, where everything was known, It came to her ears one more affair of the fickle King. Eaten away by the jealousy the Queen got on horseback to try and find the husband. When she get near a cliff between the pine forest and the sea, she found the King with his new beloved. With a broken heart, the Queen's beautiful eyes filled with tears and she cried so much that covered all the vegetation around them with small drops.
And thus was born the legend of the "camarinhas", at the end of the summer those small shrubs cover on small, bittersweet and white berries in honour of the tears of the Holy Queen.
“Dizem que Santa Isabel
Rainha de Portugal
Montando branco corcel
Percorria o seu pinhal!
-“Ai do meu Esposo! Dizei!
Dizei-me, robles reais!
Meu Dinis! Senhor meu Rei!
Em que braços suspirais?!…
Os robles silenciosos
Do vasto Pinhal do Rei
Responderam receosos
– não sei!…
E o pranto da Rainha
Nas suas faces rolava,
Regando a erva daninha
No pobre chão que pisava!
– “ ó meu Pinhal sonhador
Que o meu Rei semeou!
Dizei-me do meu Amor
E se por aqui passou…"
Os robles silenciosos
Do vasto Pinhal do Rei
Responderam receosos:
– Não sei !…
Mas cristalizou-se o pranto
Em muitas bagas branquinhas
E transformou-se num manto
De brilhantes camarinhas!…
Eis que repara a Rainha
Numa casa iluminada…
– “ Quem vela nesta casinha
Numa hora adiantada ?!…"
Os robles silenciosos
Tão tristes que nem eu sei,
Responderam receosos:
– O Rei!…”
Autor Desconhecido
Source of the images: Isabel- Veda Wildfire Camarinhas - Debarshi Ray