Calle Reventón

Barely seventy meters between López de Hoyos and the heart of Ciudad Jardín are enough for this street to go almost unnoticed. Reventón comes from reventar (to burst), and so it names certain plants: the clavel reventón is a carnation variety with a large, tight bud that seems about to open all at once; the trébol reventón is a small clover of the arid country of the southeastern peninsula. In both cases the nickname points to something that bursts, or threatens to. That botanical air suits the colony’s character. Ciudad Jardín was born at the start of the twentieth century within the European garden-city movement, which sought to bring the countryside closer to the city with low blocks, courtyards and trees, and many of its streets bear names taken from plants. Even so, no record survives of the specific reason for this name. What remains is only the name, short and blunt, over a street just as short.