As we mentionned already last week, Madrid’s Royal Botanical Gardens recently celebrated International Book Day by offering visitors a peek at the rich plant life encountered by the world’s favorite ingenious gentleman of La Mancha in Miguel de Cervantes classic novel Don Quijote.

We’ve put together this handy guide that showcases Spanish plants, trees and herbs observed by the 17^th century fictional knight and observable today in the royal gardens and across Spain’s natural landscapes: acebo (holly) – granado (pomegranate) - ciprés (cypress) - olmo (elm) - olivo (olive tree) - tejo (yew) - romero (rosemary) - algarrobo (carob tree) - membrillo (quince) - nogal (walnut) - jara (rockrose) - castaño (browm) - tomillo (thyme) - aligustre (privet) - adelfa (oleander) - vid (grape vine) - laures (laurel) - álamo (poplar) - mirto (myrtle) - higuera (fig tree) - encina (holm oak)

Photos thanks to martius, ilovelife, ruengobetti, jferrisp, photopoésie, montesnegros, stephenbuchan, anpena, valter, christine4nier