Calle Ombú
It takes its name from the ombú, the great tree of the South American pampa, whose name comes from the Guaraní umbú, “shade.”
The name comes from a tree of the South American pampa: the ombú, with a huge crown and roots that surface from the ground like tentacles, growing alone in the middle of the Argentine and Uruguayan plain. The word comes from the Guaraní umbú, “shade,” and the crown earns it: it casts a wide shade that shelters from the sun and serves as a landmark on the flatland.
Despite its thick trunk and its height of more than ten meters, botanists debate whether the ombú is a tree or a giant herb. It produces no true wood; its stem is spongy and full of water, so it neither burns well nor serves for building.
Calle Ombú follows Arganzuela’s custom of naming streets after trees, in the Atocha neighborhood.