Calle Azahar

Orange blossom is the fragrant white flower of the orange, the lemon and other citrus trees. The Spanish word came from the Andalusi Arabic azzahár, “flower.” From that same root also comes the Spanish word for chance: the same az-zahr that named the flower ended up naming luck. Why this flower was chosen to name the street was never documented. Azahar belongs to a large group of Tetuán streets with botanical names —⁠Margaritas, Magnolia, Cantueso⁠—⁠, many of which entered the street map in the mid-20th century, when Madrid absorbed Chamartín de la Rosa and merging two municipalities threw up dozens of duplicate names. To untangle the mess whole streets were renamed, and flora offered a handy repertoire: short, neutral names with no political affiliation. Barely a hundred meters in the Castillejos neighborhood, the street names a flower almost no one has seen grow in Madrid, a city with winters too cold for the orange tree to set fruit.