Calle de Sófora

The sophora —⁠Styphnolobium japonicum, formerly Sophora japonica⁠— reached Europe in the mid-eighteenth century from China, from seeds that a Jesuit missionary sent to the continent’s botanical gardens. It flowers at the end of summer, when almost every other tree has already lost its bloom, and covers itself in clusters of creamy white that carpet the pavement as they fall. The setting is no accident. Castillejos is the most tree-lined neighbourhood in the district, with more than two thousand trees along its streets, and the sophora is among its most planted species. A few steps away, on calle de Olite, lives a specimen so solitary that the neighbours named it Salustiano, the only tree on its stretch. In August, when the pavement of calle de Sófora fills with ivory-coloured petals, the name explains itself.