Calle de la Hierbabuena

Spearmint is that mint with a wrinkled leaf and a fresh scent that flavors teas, mojitos and stews the world over. Native to southern Europe and the Mediterranean, its common Spanish name explains itself: the “good herb,” the useful plant of the garden and the kitchen. The genus points back to Minthe, the nymph that Greek mythology turned into a plant. In Berruguete, the street belongs to a small grove of plant names growing across this corner of Tetuán: Loto, Cactus, Magnolias, Azucenas and many more. Most reached the street map in the mid-twentieth century, when Madrid absorbed Chamartín de la Rosa —⁠to which Tetuán belonged⁠— and ran into a tangle of repeated street names; the names of flowers and herbs solved the problem and, along the way, dressed as a garden a neighborhood that shortly before had been an outskirt of tollgates and milkmaids.