Science

CVE: Part 1

	1. Pin oak (Quercus palustris). Pin oaks, natives of eastern North America, are popular decorative trees. This medium-sized deciduous tree is fairly easy to recognize because the branches tend to droop downwards. The leaves have five or seven lobes with deep sinuses between the lobes. Unlike many oaks, pin oaks have shallow roots, which makes it easy to transplant.
	2. Laurel (Laurus sp.). Laurels are a group of evergreen shrubs and small trees. They were originally from the Mediterranean area, but now they are found widely distributed around the world. The leaves of some species are used for cooking.
	3. Sweet gum (Liquidambar styraciflua). The sweet gum leaves have five or seven pointed lobes with fine-toothed edges. They are an Eastern (primarily Southeastern) tree. In the fall, the leaves turn a beautiful red. Later in the fall, the leaves are lost from this deciduous tree, but you can often still recognize the tree by its distinctive seed pods, which are brown, round, and contain a lot of spikes. Look for some of them to be still on the tree in winter or on the ground nearby. The heartwood is used furniture-making.
	4. Junipers (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.
	5. 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.
	6. Herb garden. The herb garden contains many herbs, including mint, lavender, and rosemary.
	7. Tristania (Tristania sp.). Tristania is a small tree with dense branches. The leaves are evergreen, and its flowers bloom in dense clusters of yellow flowers. It is commonly known as the water gum.
	8. Almond (Prunus dulcis). The almond is a small deciduous tree. Some of its relatives are plums and cherries, but in almonds, the “fruit” is the nut we all like to eat. Unlike plums and cherries, the soft tasty flesh has been replaced by a shell. Almonds are originally from southwest Asia.
	9. Pistatio (Pistacia vera). The pistachio is a small tree originally from central and southwestern Asia. It has deciduous pinnate leaves. Like the almond, its fruit is a not a true nut, but certainly looks like one. The “nuts” come in a whitish shell and have a light green color and a characteristic flavor. The tree here is technically not on the campus, but it’s just too good to pass up as a natural feature.
	10. Squirrel nests. Squirrels build nests of leaves high up in trees. They are pretty visible in the winter when the leaves are off the trees. In fact, winter is a great time to look for many things in trees. For example, a lot of mistletoe grows in the trees in Castro Valley.