I'm using images of three trees which are close together, and which seem to be the same species. I shot the trunks of the larger ones, but the lowest branches are too high to get a good image of the leaves. From the ground they look the same as the smaller tree's leaves.
These are on the west bank of the pond site mixed with White, Live and Water Oaks, Sweet Gums, Magnolia and Sparkleberry (Thanks DL). They are in a well drained area.
The big examples are approximately 12" dbh and probably over 70 feet tall.
I apologize if I mixed up species here.
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/16089/Tree%20id%209.2a.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/16089/Tree%20id%209.2b.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/16089/Tree%20id%209a.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/16089/Tree%20id%209b.jpg)
Here's the smaller one:
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/16089/Tree%20id%209.1b.jpg)
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/16089/Tree%20id%209.1c.jpg)
The 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th look a bit like Red Bay (Persea borbonia) but the leaves are a not quite what I would expect. They seem to be stubbier than what I am used to.
The last pic looks like black gum, Nyssa slyvatica. First pic as well.
It might be nice if they turned out to be Black Gums based on what I've read about them. These are in the right spot so that as I taper the tree size down to small ones by the shoreline these would be very visible from the opposite bank. I think that would be great based on what I've heard called "spectacular" fall foliage. The odd thing is I haven't noticed the colors before. It's very possible I was just too busy to look up, but could it be that the color change isn't as dramatic this far south?
I'll probably lean towards leaving a good number of them anyway based on other positive attributes, but if the fall color is the same as what I've heard described I will make a special effort to expose certain individual trees to the view from the pond.
Any Black Gum fans here?
Well, they are black gum, so get ready for some brilliant red fall foliage. The 4th pic looks more like black cherry than black gum with that scaly bark. A leaf pic would help if you can get one. The others are Nyssa.
I must have justed missed them! Well, we've only been here a couple of years and it's been a little crazy...
I thought those smaller trees were Cherry based on the one that DanG pointed out. Could those leaves be Cherry?
GW, the leaves in the last pic are definitely blackgum. Cherry leaves are finely serrated. Also, cherry twigs have conspicuous light dots called lenticels, as you can see from the pic, that blackgum twig does not have showy lenticels. All the pics, with the exception of #4, is blackgum. I suspect #4 is cherry.