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Zone 8A, Dallas Texas.

I have a plant that has popped up in two different places. Both areas
are shady and wet. One is by an outdoor water facet we use to put
water in a dog dish and near enough the back porch that is gets a
great deal of shade. The other is against the west side of the house
facing a neighbors yard. And he waters often enough to keep the garden
on that side moist. And since it is between the houses, it only gets a
few hours of sun a day.

The one by the dog dish is about 3 feet tall now. The leaves are about
6" long and about 1.5" inches at the widest points. It has about and
inch long, narrow, pointy bud at the very end of the trunk on the top,
like a something is about to bloom.

They leaves are close to the trunk, alternate, are not lobed, serated
or hairy. The are shiney dark green on top and light dull green on the
bottom, a sage color. Both ends are tapered. I tried pulling the one
on the dog dish up, but it is impossible to do so by hand. I just
ended up with a handful of leaves. I am going to have to dig it up
since it is right next to the foundation and I don't want a tree or
bush to cause foundation problems.

I moved the one on the east side of the house and even though the
plant itself was only about a 6" high, it had a long tap root nearly
as long.

The closest I can come to identifying it myself is some sort of
Magnolia or Mountain Laurel. The leaves also look like Shingle Oak
leaves. But the plant itself looks nothing like a tree since the
leaves come directly off the trunk. Any ideas? Isn't 8A out of the
Moutain Laurel's normal habitat and the wrong time of year for blooms?

I'll post pictures later.