I took forestry in high school for 2 years, and all i know about this tree is it is some kind of Pear, and deer mutilate it....

I noticed the seemingly highly educated tree people in Gmmat's thread so i thought i would question my own. What you cant see obviously is the fruit which is a small orange colored fruit about the size of a pinball maybe slightly larger. the buds are sharp thorn like and the pics will have to do the rest of the explaining... what kind of tree is this??

Persimmon?

That's about the only one I know with round orange fruit.

Deer do like them.

I read all the post this time.

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I have 2 guesses:

American Persimmon







The only thing causing me to hesitate is the picture of the bark. Persimmon bark seems a little more blocky than what you posted above.Close... But I'm not 100% convinced.



Fruit has a leafy crown, and you'll recognize it immediately.



http://www.cnr.vt.edu/dendro/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=29



Guess #2: Callery Pear

1/2" diameter fruit. Not really "orange" but has a bit of an orange tone. Smallish, almost cherry-sized.





http://www.cnr.vt.edu/dendro/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=132


For what it's worth, the leaves you have pictured definitely look like pear leaves. They're thick and waxy looking, and have the same leaf distribution pattern.

I thought it some kind of pear too until I read "all" the post.

I think Fran got it.....looks like a callery to me.

Has all the same features too..... with all the ice and what not that y'all get in SWVA... that explains why a tree growing out in the open that would normally have a nice round crown on top... has a fairly thin, upright crown instead.... because pears (especially callery's.... from which came the insurance adjusters friend the Bradford) tend to sheer off their limbs pretty easily.

Looks like a persimmon tree, have one in the back yard.

Persimmon. At first I thought it was a Bradford Pear.

could you post a pic of the fruit?I would say persimmon,but the bark of the tree does not look like the trees I have seen unless it is a young tree,also most persimmon trees in the wild have more than one around normally there will be 2 or three close together.