Calle de Bambú

Bamboo lends its name to this street in the Castilla neighbourhood of Chamartín. The plant, with its hollow, woody canes that bend without snapping, grows across much of tropical Asia and the Americas, where for centuries it has served to build houses and scaffolding. The street is not alone in its botanical leaning. Around it gather several plant place names: a step away is Calle de la Yuca, a short street from which the main post office building can be seen. The reasoning behind grouping these plant names in one corner of the map is not recorded, beyond the wish to give the set some unity. Bamboo also left its mark underground. In 2007 a station on Metro line 1 opened here, borrowing the street’s name.