File talk:Escudo de Madrid.svg
Hi, I think the link to the madroño tree is wrong with regards to the Madrid coat-of-arms, despite the similarities of the names. Years ago, I was fortunate enough to take a summer class at the Universidad Complutense in Madrid taught by the renowned professor Consuelo de la Gandara. When someone raised the topic of the bear on the city coat-of-arms, de la Gandara explained that it was an APPLE TREE. The bears and the apple orchards were gone long ago, but at one time, Madrid had them. To this day, however, the river which flows through Madrid is the Manzanares-which means "apple orchards." De La Gandara was a doctor of literature and an authority on Iberian literature and culture.
More to the point, common sense would dictate that is what is depicted. Apples. Madrones produce a small fibrous fruit, not eaten by humans, and no bigger than a cherry. It may be that bears eat them, but if drawn even roughly to scale, they would be tiny furry dots–not the red ripe globes plainly depicted on the escudo de Madrid.
