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Spanish Word of the Day Archive
Thursday December 21, 2006
álamo, noun:
poplar
The Spanish word álamo means poplar in English. The old fort in Texas was named Los Alamos after a grove of cottonwood trees which grew there. The cottonwood tree (populus deltiodes) is related to the poplar. The prairie was often a hostile environment, so a cottonwood tree was a welcome sight to the pioneers. It provided much needed shade and wood for cooking and it also meant that there was probably water nearby.
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