Got a buddy that has these coming up everywhere. I suspect they're some kind of scrub tree, they grow fast. Any idea on what they are? Thanks y'all!!

Tree of heaven?

Looks like an Ailanthis, crush the leaves and see if it has a kinda coffee smell, that earned it the moniker "City Stink Tree". Nuisance plant, spreads like crazy, worthless for anything.

Any apples on it? If not I'm not going to be able to help.

Boxelder

This ^^ is correct^^^

WRONG!!!

Sure looks like box elder. Best I can tell the branches are opposite and looks like the leaf spot/scar wraps all the way around.

If it helps, some of the branches resemble bamboo'ish.

It doesn't have enough leaflets per leaf to be a tree of heaven.
Leaves do not look like boxelder either. Too many leaflets.
There are not many trees with compound and opposite leaves.
Ash is another possibility, but doesn't look like any natives with which I am familiar.
It might be an exotic escapee, or from an alien world.

Could it be Japanese Knot Weed ?

Cathryn has it right. Break a branch open and give it a whiff. It'll gag most people. It will have a zillion seeds that spread everywhere, and every one of them will sprout.

Terribly invasive tree that needs REMOVED NOW.


Charlie

Don't look boxelder to me neither.

The leaves and branches in that pic are opposite. Box elder is opposite. Ash is opposite. Tree of heaven is alternate. It's not TOH. I bet it's box elder

You're wrong. Tree of heaven are opposite


Tree of.heaven leaves




Box elder leaves

Don't know what it is but sure don't look anything like BE.

You're wrong. Those are the leaflets, not the leaves

This is also correct and I will leave it to you to explain the difference between leaves and leaflets! Good luck!

cathryn, it’s still boxelder and crayfish are dormant in the winter around here.

When I was a kid we had mature box-elder trees along the driveway, in a couple corners against the house, and in a cluster in the yard.
Me and my brothers shot a lot of woodpeckers out of them with our pellet guns when Dad wasn’t looking lol.

Cathryn - I often ID trees for living, and I at first glance thought this was tree of heaven also, but it is not quite right. The leaves in TOH aren’t that crinkly or dainty. The leaflets also lay differently and form a more broad flat leaf than this one in question. And although it is not really possible to be sure from the photos, the branch ends on TOH are stouter and more sparse. I am wondering if it might be an hybrid ash cultivar or an ornamental cultivar of some other species. But the truth is I need more pictures with views like overall tree shape from a distance, woody branches and branch ends, just more and better pictures. It bothers me when I can’t ID a tree native to my region, so if I am going to sleep well tonight I might need the OP to send some more pictures. If I were looking at that in person and not able to ID it I would just be a miserable puddle of shame and confusion. I have bad dreams about not being able to ID a tree.