When helping with the trail clearing today, we noticed some beautiful yellow foliage on a small tree-like specimen. None of us knew specifically what it was but came to an agreement that it might be Buckthorn or Buckeye. After researching it, I found that only the buckeye turns yellow as well as it has five leaves together. There is also Chinese Fringe tree that looks remarkably similar. There was a grove of these trees adjacent to Garland Rd. on the north side of the trail contigous to what I call Tres Cedars - three absolutely monstrous cedars 80 or 90 feet tall.
In my research I happened across a state of Oregon article that describes the Buckthorn as an invasive tree species that is extremely toxic to the bird population not to draw attention to children as well as pets who might accidentally eat the black berries. http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/invasives/terrestrialplants/woody/buckthorn/index.html It’s funny how Texas government doesn’t seem to have a clue about the toxicity aspect of this tree since they advocate it.



Another interesting specimen that we found growing near the apartments was a holly-like shrub with sharp serrated edges. Society members trusted it was a Chinese Photinia - photinia davidiana or a red tip, species Photinia fraseri. Both have red tips. To complicate things there's also a species serrulata and lindl of which only the lindl is supposedly native to Texas. All Photinia’s are referred to as Chokeberries.
The National Plants Database has habitat maps on behalf of all eight Photinia species but this did not lesson my confusion since numerous sites had conflicting information mixing up the scientific names.
I guess I shall have to go pick a leaf tomorrow afternoon, scan it in as well as post it here.