See text Arbutus is a genus of 12 accepted species[2] of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae,[3] native to temperate regions of the Mediterranean, western Europe, the Canary Islands and North America, and commonly called madrones[4] or strawberry trees.

[7] The smooth wood of the tree is mentioned by Theophrastus in his Enquiry into Plants (Historia Plantarum) as formerly being used to make weaving spindles.

[8] Members of the genus are called madrones or madronas in the United States, from the Spanish name madroño (strawberry tree).

[9][10] All refer to the same species, Arbutus menziesii, native to the Pacific Northwest and Northern and Central California regions.

A statue of a bear eating the fruit of the madroño tree stands in the center of the city (Puerta del Sol).

[18][19] "My love's an arbutus" is the title of a poem by the Irish writer Alfred Perceval Graves (1846–1931), set to music by his compatriot Charles Villiers Stanford (1852–1924).

The Canadian songwriter, singer and painter Joni Mitchell (born 1943) includes a reference to the "arbutus rustling" in her song, "For The Roses".

Also, according to the Great Flood legends of several bands in the northwest, the madrone helped people survive by providing an anchor on top of a mountain for their canoes.