Flora Identification

[Zero Day]

I am presently in the Houston TX area and there is a small wildlife park where I can walk. I ran across the attached tree/shrub. Can anyone identify it for me. Sweetgum perhaps?

BTW this photo was taken with a Vivitar ViviCam-10 that I got at Wally World for 48$. It is about as close to a disposable digital camera as you can get. It is small and lightweight and I don't worry all the time about getting it wet. It has about 0.256 megapixels so the pictures arn't real good but fine for email and pasting into a Word document as a illustration for a journal. Big disadvantage is that there is no pre-view so you can't be sure of your shot.

[Zero Day]

Here is the pix.

[DebW]

How big are the balls? Sweetgum balls are about 2 inches across and grow on a tree (not a shrub). They have lots of triangular pointy things sticking out, but the probruberances are short (~1/4 inch).

[Zero Day]

I will go back and check. Claudet has kept us inside lately. We have Sweetgum Trees in GA and the balls go from green to brown. I have never seen a white one like this.

[Hog On Ice]

The leaf does not look right for a sweet gum either - sweet gum has a star shaped leaf.

[Groucho]

I believe this is a buttonbush. Check out this link (http://www.easywildflowers.com/quality/cph.occid.htm) to be sure

[Zero Day]

That's It!