Calle del Eucalipto
Takes its name from the eucalyptus, the Australian tree with pale bark and aromatic leaves, in a corner of the neighborhood where the streets are named after plants.
The name celebrates the eucalyptus, that tall tree with peeling bark and leaves that release a balsamic scent when crushed. The word comes from the Greek eu, “well,” and kalyptós, “covered,” for the cap that closes over the flower bud until it opens. It is a tree from far away: native to Australia and Tasmania, it did not reach Spanish soil until the 19th century, far from the dry climate of the plateau where it now names a street.
El Eucalipto does not stand alone. It falls in a part of the Hispanoamérica neighborhood where the street map turned into a garden: around it open the paseo de los Cerezos, the calle de los Tilos, the paseo de los Jacintos, and the avenida de los Alhelíes. Whoever named these streets reached for a whole herbarium, and the eucalyptus made the list for its bearing and its reputation as a vigorous tree.