Calle del Aligustre

The privet is an evergreen shrub with small white flowers that closes gardens and separates plots across much of Spain. Its name comes from the Latin ligustrum, linked to the verb ligare, to tie: the young branches, long and pliant, served as plant bindings, a use already noted by Pliny the Elder. Calle del Aligustre drops downhill through Valdeacederas, toward Paseo de la Dirección, then climbs toward Calle del Capitán Blanco Argibay. It appears in the neighbourhood’s street plan at least since the mid-twentieth century. The exact reason for the naming is not recorded, though it fits the Madrid custom of naming the streets of new neighbourhoods after plants and trees. The privet is today among the common species in Madrid’s tree stock, with several thousand specimens on pavements and squares, often clipped into hedges.