What's in a Prague street name

Every street in Prague, one by one.

Category: Plants

  • Tavolníková was built in 1990. ‘Tavolník’ is Czech for ‘spiraea’, also known as ‘meadowsweets’ or ‘steeplebushes’, a genus of plants belonging to the rose family. They’re deciduous shrubs, found across the northern hemisphere, but especially in Eastern Asia. They are not generally eaten – although Native Americans used to – and are frequently used as…

  • Originally published on X on 7 April 2024. Jiřík Černý was born around 1511 in Rožďalovice, near Nymburk, but there are no written mentions of him until 1534, when he gained a bachelor’s degree from the Faculty of Arts at Charles University. At some point (the years after his graduation aren’t well documented either), he…

  • Originally published on Twitter on 24 June 2022. Plavínová was built in 1998 (making it newest street yet, but only until tomorrow). A plavín štítnatý, or plavín leknínovitý, or Nymphoides peltata, has its fair share of names in English too: fringed water lily, yellow floating heart, floating heart, water fringe or entire marshwort. It’s a perennial that grows in…