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CVEF

Castro Valley, CA 94546

Tax ID# 94-2797523

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5100 Vannoy Avenue, Castro Valley, CA

Vannoy School has a great campus that can be seen in three sections; North, East and South.

1. Sugar Maple. Vannoy School has a very nice garden area with a number of vegetables and flowers.

3. The garden. Vannoy School has a very nice garden area with a number of vegetables and flowers.

4. Incense cedar (Calocedrus decurrens). Incense cedars can grow to 150 feet and can live for more than 500 years. Their bark is distinctive. In young trees, it is deep red, and in mature trees, it forms a thick fibrous brown covering. Their small and sharp light green leaves are resinous cover the branches like scales. Because they do well in shade, incense cedars are common in the understory of  conifer forests.

5. Coyote bush (Baccharis pilularis). Baccharis comes from a Greek word for plants with fragrant roots, and pilularis refers to the sticky resin on its flowers. Coyote brush, a common native California plant, adapts its shape to its environment. Near the seashore, it is low to the ground. In places where it is more protected, coyote brush forms bushes. Its leaves have a waxy coating to reduce water loss, and the coating also protects them from fire. The coyote brush sends out a very large root system to find water.

6. Wet area. The playground area near the hillside is fairly wet and has influenced the kind of plants that grow there. Water in the ground affects the amount of oxygen that is available to the plants. Plants that grow in wet soil have evolved special ways to live in the wet, oxygen-poor soil. In very wet areas, such as bogs, the breakdown of dead plants is very slow. The plant material becomes part of the soil very much as it is now. So wetlands trap energy, and if water is added, the soil can be very fertile. Also note that where the ground is very wet, there are no ground squirrel mounds. They don’t like the wet ground either.

7. Sedges and bent grass (Agrostis sp.). The playground at Vannoy is not very wet, but there are some plants that like more water than normal. Sedges are a type of grass. Many species like a lot of water, and when you find them, you can be fairly sure there is a good supply of water nearby. Some of the sedges have small nodules on the roots that can be eaten, but please don’t try this at Vannoy. If you lean over and look along the surface of the ground in the wet area, you can see the very fine blades of grass growing above the other grasses. These bent grasses are often used on golf greens.

8. Blackberries. Blackberries are called adventitious because the take “advantage” of any opening in the forest. They are among the first plants to appear after a fire or other clearing. Blackberries are members of the genus Rubus, one of the most diverse genera of flowering plants with 12 subgenera and hundreds of species. They have been used for food and medicine for centuries. White or pink flowers grow at the ends of the stems. By late summer, fruit appear as aggregates of drupelets. A drupelet is a small drupe. Each is similar to a plum with a seed in the middle of the flesh and covered with a thin skin. 

  An old English legend advises that blackberries should not be eaten after Michaelmas, a celebration in late September to celebrate the defeat of the Devil by St. Michael. According to the legend, when the Devil was cast out of heaven, he landed on a blackberry plant and spit on the berries in anger, thus rendering them inedible.

9. Acacia (Acacia sp.). Acacias are in the pea family. The seed pods resemble pea pods. The leaves of acacias are compound pinnate. That means that each leaf contains a large number of smaller leaflets. There are roughly 1300 species worldwide. In the US, the tree is mostly grown as an ornamental. They are sometimes confused with locust or mimosa trees, which have similar features.

11. Row of California live oaks (Quercus agrifolia). Coast live oaks are native California trees and can grow to hundreds of years old. Its shiny green prickly leaves are usually rolled under. It tolerates dry conditions very well. A single tree can produce 500-1000 pounds of acorns each year. The acorns feed squirrels and other animals. The Native Americans of California also ground the acorns, washed out the bitter tannins, and then cooked the resulting flour.

12. Olive tree (Olea europaea). This small tree can grow for centuries. It has been valued since ancient times for its oil and fruit, which must be processed before it is edible. Each tree can produce about 2 kg of oil per year.

13. Pine cones. Pine trees and other conifers do not have flowers or fruits. Their seeds are contained in cones, and the cones are male or female. The one that we normally think of as a “cone” is the female cone that produces the seeds. The female cone are very helpful for identifying the species of conifers.

Female cones contain the ovules, which when fertilized with the pollen, become the seeds.

   The pollen comes from the smaller male cones. After fertilization, most pine seeds mature in 18-24 months. Younger cones are green in color and become brown in the second year. When the cones mature and dry out, seeds are released.

   Male and female cones are found on the same tree. Female cones are usually closer to the top and grown as individuals. Male cones sometimes grow as clusters. Also male cones grow at the base of a branch, and female cones grow at the tip.

14. Row of pines

Monterey pine (Pinus radiata). The Monterey pine is common in California. It grows to about 100 feet. Its branches point upward and it has a round top. The bright green needles occur in clusters of three and are 2-4 inches long with a blunt tip. Cones are 3-5 inches long. The dark grey to brown bark is quite fissured. The Monterey pine in California is seriously threatened by an introduced fungal disease called pine pitch canker.

Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis) . This pine comes originally from the Mediterranean area, but is often planted in California because of its heat and drought tolerance is valued. This small to medium-size tree will grow to 70 feet. The bark is orange-red, thick and deeply fissured at the base of the trunk, and thin and flaky in the upper crown. The very slender needles occur in pairs and are 2-3 inches long. Although the cones open over several years, they will open quickly after a forest fire.

Canary Island pine (Pinus canariensis). This pine originally came from the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean. It's is a subtropical tree and cannot live in low temperatures so Castro Valley is ideal for this tree. This large tree grows to 90-120 feet tall. The needle occur in bundles of three and are 6-12 inches long. Cones are 4-10 inches long. This popular ornamental tree has very hard and durable wood, among the best of the pines.

15. Black pine (Pinus nigra). This large tree  (up to 150 feet) is mainly planted as an ornamental. The grey to yellow-brown bark has scaly plates. The dark green needles are in twos and 3-6 inches long.

16. Mulberry (Morus)

The mulberry is a deciduous tree from the warm temperate and subtropical regions of Asia, Africa and North America. The leaves are simple and often lobed with serrated margins. Not all trees have fruit, but the ones that do feature a delicious dark purple berry. Mulberry leaves are eaten by silkworms, whose cocoons are used to make silk.

  Unfortunately, the mulberry tree has been damaged. Hopefully, it will survive and grow in the spring.

17. Ngaio tree (Myoporum laetum). This tree is originally from New Zealand and so it tolerates sea-side exposure and salt-spray well. This evergreen shrub or small tree can grow to about 20 feet tall.

18. Lichens on the fence. The lichens here cover the branches of a dead tree, but you can find them in many places, including trees, fence posts, and rocks. They live where most other plants cannot.

   Lichens are really two organisms in one: a green algae and a fungus. They help each other in a relationship called symbiosis. The fungus part provides the alga with water and minerals that the fungus absorbs from whatever the lichen is growing on. The alga makes food for the fungus and itself through photosynthesis, just like trees and grasses.

   Although they grow on trees, lichens do not hurt them. Sometimes lichens can be a problem when they grow on stone surfaces. For example, Mount Rushmore must be  cleaned and the lichens removed regularly so that the faces of the four presidents will not be harmed.

   Lichens live on fences, rocks, and trees. You’ll be surprised how many you can find right here on this campus.

19. California ground squirrels (Spermophilus beecheyi)

The piles of dirt indicate that we have company here. California ground squirrels, (they aren’t really gophers) are common throughout California and the western United States. They are gray and light brown with buff or grayish yellow undersides. They are about 12-18 inches long with a 6-inch tail. In the spring, a mating couple will produce a single litter of 5-8 babies.

   Because they dig up yards and gardens, ground squirrels are looked upon as a pest, Also they eat the leaves, flowers, roots, and seeds, and fruits. They are very shy, but if you sit quietly for a while, you might see one peeking out of his hole. Enjoy looking at them if you are lucky enough to see them. But like with all wild animals, it’s best to stay away from them.

20. Grass and other plants. The grassy lawn is not exactly a native California feature, but it is now its own environment. The grass is mostly Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis) and fescue (Festuca sp.) with some crabgrass here and there.

   It’s easy to overlook grass, but the grasses are extremely important to us as cereal grains (wheat, oats, rye, barley) and animal feed. Unlike many plants that have the growing point at the tip of the leaf, grasses have the growing point at the base of the leaf. Thus, grasses can be grazed without hindering the growth and survival of the plant.

   The grasses evolved only 30 to 40 million years ago. Vast grasslands provided food for the rising age of herbivorous mammals which in turn provided the food for a variety of carnivores.

   In addition to the grasses at Vannoy School, you can see a number of other small plants. The small white flowers are white clover (Trifolium repens). Leaves, yellow flowers, and soft seed clusters of dandelions (Taraxacum officinale) can also be seen. The thistle has sharp stickers and pretty purple flowers.

21. Jeffrey pine (Pinus jeffreyi). This large tree can grow to 120 feet. The gray-green needles are in bundles of three and 5-10 inches long, and its resin has a distinct lemon or vanilla scent.

22. Tree stump. A tree stump can tell you a lot about the way trees grow. The stump has many tree rings under the outer layer of bark. The tree forms one ring every year. So by counting the number of rings, you can figure out how old the tree was.

   Tree rings can also tell you about the weather in the years that the tree was alive. When there is plenty of rain and sunshine, the tree grows faster and the rings are further apart. Scientists study tree rings to learn about the weather from long ago.

   What causes tree rings? In the middle of the tree stump, you can see a core of soft spongy material called pith that formed when the tree was just a sapling. Around the pith is dark dense wood, which is called the heartwood. The annual rings are from when the tree was very young, and the rings can be so close together that they are hard to count. Next is the sapwood, lighter-colored wood with a smaller number of rings. Outside of the sapwood and under the bark is the phloem.

   A layer that is so small that it is very hard to see is the cambium. The cambium is very important because it is the part of the trunk that is growing. The light-colored wood is formed in the spring and the darker colored wood is formed later in the growing season.

   The sapwood is responsible for moving water and nutrients from the roots up to the leaves. In turn, the phloem transports the food, mostly sugars, made by the leaves, to the trunk and roots. As the tree grows, older rings of sapwood gradually fill with a hard substance, called lignin, and become heartwood.

23. Lavender (Lavandula sp.). The lavenders include 25-30 species and are members of  the mint family. The scent of the lavender makes it attractive for dried flower arrangements and potpourris. The scent comes from an oil, which is used as an antiseptic. The flowers also yield a lot of nectar that is used by bees to make very good hone

24. Agapanthus (Agapanthus sp.). The plants have funnel-shaped bluish flowers. Each stem has many flowers. Agapanthus grow from bulbs or seed. The bulbs can be “separated” to produce new plants.

26. Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus sp.). Although eucalyptus trees are very common in the Bay Area, they are not a native California plant. They were brought here from Australia in the 19th Century. The reason they were brought over is unclear, but now they are used as windbreaks and as decorative plants. These very tall trees also produce a lot of oil (thus, their distinctive odor) and burn rapidly. The bark is very interesting. It dies annually. In some species, the bark falls off. In others, the bark stays on the tree and dries out.

28. Conifers and deciduous trees. Trees have evolved various strategies to survive, and some of these can easily be seen in the park. First, conifers, such as pines, spruces, and redwoods, are all conifers. They do not lose their leaves in the winter. They do not have flowers. Deciduous trees have flowers and lose their leaves in winter. In winter, it's easy to see one of the big differences between these two general types of trees. Conifers remain green, but the deciduous trees lose their leaves. In addition, deciduous trees are mostly flowering plants. Conifers have cones instead and no flowers.

29. Apple tree. Who doesn’t like apples? This natural snack is sweet, but contains no fat, sodium, or cholesterol. And they have only 80 calories.

   Scientists believe that the first apple trees came from what is now the country of Kazakhstan. The first apples in the US were planted by the Pilgrims in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In the early colonies, apples were known as winter bananas or melt-in-the-mouth. We can easily get several varieties of apples, including Granny Smith, Cala, golden delicious, red delicious, and Fuji. But over 7500 varieties are grown in the world. That’s a lot of apples!

   Botanists gave apples the scientific name Malus domestica). Nearly two-thirds of apples are eaten as fresh fruit. The rest are made into apple sauce, apple juice, and other products. Botanists call apples and pears “pomes” because they have a paper-like core, a fleshy layer around the core (the part you eat), and an outer skin that can be red, green, or yellow.

   And we all know the legend of Johnny Appleseed, who traveled through Ohio, Indiana,and Illinois, planting apple trees for everyone to enjoy.

   Each apple has 10 seeds. The one exception is the Northern Spy, which has 20. In late spring, apple trees display white blossoms. Honeybees collect the nectar in the flowers and distribute the pollen to other trees. Farmers make sure that they have bee hives nearby. 

30. Manzanita (Arctostaphylos sp.). Manzanitas are common native California plants. They have a distinctive look with smooth, orange or red bark and twisting branches. About 60 species can be found, and they range in size from low, ground-hugging species to mountain species that grow to be 30 feet tall. The Spanish word “manzanita” means “little apple,” but fruit of the manzanita is a berry. The berries are eaten by many animals, and even Native Americans used them for food.

31. Bamboo. Bamboo is not native to the United States. It was introduced years ago as a decorative and useful plant. Bamboos are woody perennial grasses. More than 1,000 species of bamboo are known, and they range in size from the very small to tree-like species. Bamboos often grow in very dense clumps. Bamboos and the grasses provide food for a large number of animals. For example, pandas love to eat bamboo. And although most of us in the Bay Area use it to decorate our yards, the tender sprouts of some bamboo plants are used as a vegetable, particularly in Asian dishes.

32. Juniper (Juniperus sp.). Junipers are an evergreen bush with pointed needles and scale-like foliage. There are male and female plants, and only female plants produce fleshy, blue berries. There are hundreds of different varieties of juniper with a variety of sizes and colors. They also have different shapes, including prostrate, spreading, and upright.