Calle de las Orquídeas

Orchids give this street in Valdeacederas its name. No record survives of why this particular flower was chosen, and the name is understood above all through its surroundings: in this corner of Tetuán streets named after plants, flowers and trees abound, and Orquídeas is one more in the series, near Azucenas, Genciana and Crisantemo. The botanical bent of the map ties to the origin of the district itself. Valdeacederas means valley of sorrel, sour-leaved herbs that named this farmland long before it was built up. When the fields filled with houses, the names of the vegetation stayed fixed to the layout. Within that set, the orchid is the exotic note. Against the wild sorrel that grew like weeds, it is a flower of hothouses and care, far from the humble countryside the neighborhood sprang from.