Calle del Abedul

The birch gives this street its name: a tree with white bark that peels in fine sheets, a graceful crown and pale wood, native to the cold mountains of Europe and the northern hemisphere. The word travels from the Celtic betu to the Latin betulla, and from there into the Romance languages. An alternative etymology links it to the Sanskrit bhurga, “tree for writing,” because its bark served as a writing surface before paper existed. That bark burns even when damp, thanks to the oils it contains, and the peoples of the north used it as tinder and as a covering for canoes. The wood, white and easy to work, fed turnery and coopering. Abedul belongs to a group of streets in Nueva España christened with plant names, a Madrid custom of giving a whole neighbourhood a common theme. There is no record that the tree marked this particular spot in the Chamartín district; the name answers to the botanical motif that orders the area.