Tree Identification

[LauraleesFarm]

I have a lot of these trees on my place. They tend to grow with the pin oaks, in low lying areas mostly. Some are almost as tall as the pin oaks. The leaves are glossy and smooth on the topside and this time of year they become speckled with red/orange dots, with some leaves being a solid red/orange.
I preliminarily identified this tree as a Carolina buckthorn. Is this the correct name for this tree?

The bark of a young tree

The bark of an older tree, at least 30 feet tall.

Sorry the pictures may come out huge. You can use ctrl and minus to decrease size. Thanks, L.

 

[cowgirl8]

persimmon maybe

 

[kenny thomas]

persimmon maybe

No its not persimmon i'm sure. Carolina buckthorn does not get that big I didnt think. Take a small green branch and break it and tell me how it smells. If it is carolina buckthorn it should smell really bad.

 

[LauraleesFarm]

Okay I will do that the next chance I get, to check for odor.

We have persimmon trees and the leaves are not the same. The veining and the configuration of the leaves on each twig is different than persimmon tree. The bark is different. Persimmons are not glossy leaved to the extent that these are. The persimmon leaves droop more. And these trees don't have any persimmon fruit.

TX A & M tree ID site says the Carolina Buckthorn is an understory tree that gets up to 20 ft tall. I've got several that might go 40 ft. One clump of 3 trees stems from a dead trunk that is about 2 1/2 ft across. So I questioned the ID.

I crushed a leaf yesterday trying to rule out bayberry. It did not smell like anything. Will try a twig tho.

 

[SmokinM]

Looks like a black gum to me. Leaves seem to be a little narrow but that may be the pic. Everything else you describe says Black Gum. Also don't know if they are native to your area. Leaves will be bright red in the fall.

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

Smoking I think you are on to some thing.

 

[greybeard]

Yep--Black Gum.

Here's the TAMU description:
http://texastreeid.tamu.edu/content/treedetails/?id=66

 

[LauraleesFarm]

Now I think we have the ID. Definitely black gum. These are beautiful trees. I never knew they existed before now. I'm going to attempt to keep as many of them as possible when we are clearing thicket/brush. I googled the images of Black Gum trees, and there are some breathtaking photos. THANKS EVERYONE!

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

Go ahead and leave all of them you can. If you get to many they aren't that hard to kill.

 

[highgrit]

Go ahead and leave all of them you can. If you get to many they aren't that hard to kill.

Easy to kill, hard to push over. A black gum is worse than a pine tree.

 

[Tim/South]

I was thinking Black Gum, may be a Red Gum from looking at the bark of the younger tree.

 

[TexasBred]

Now I think we have the ID. Definitely black gum. These are beautiful trees. I never knew they existed before now. I'm going to attempt to keep as many of them as possible when we are clearing thicket/brush. I googled the images of Black Gum trees, and there are some breathtaking photos. THANKS EVERYONE!

Checked your county for different trees there and Black Gum is definitely one of them.