@ Ken if you find one SINGLE compound leaf impressive, check out a DOUBLE (bipinnately) compound leaf! Kentucky Coffee tree & Devil's Walking stick are two good examples. Honeylocust & Albizia have them too, but with really small leaflets.

I haven't seen any glossy buckthorn here, although that doesn't mean it's not around! Google is a mixed blessing, because I checked the buckthorn images and decided those leaves have more prominent veining and longer, more distinct stems, but then followed up with the M. virginiana images and ... they were no more similar. Bill's point about leaf arrangement is interesting; I checked wikipedia on this and both plants have alternate leaves. That might be more pronounced in the buckthorn, I don't know. Wikipedia did say that Rhamnus has brown shoots, and this plant's shoots are definitely green. LOL, I guess I should just inspect my other M.v.s and see if they have the same insect damage (leaf notching) as this baby - looks can be deceiving, but bugs are never fooled.

I thought it looked like a UK house and garden but was fooled by the OP name ;-) No way of knowing what sort of cherry it came from but since they don't come true from seed, even if it is from an eating cherry, it won't produce the same kind of fruit. It could also be from a wild cherry, Prunus avium, brought in by a bird. All your friend can do is to wait and see what the fruit are like.

My neighbor has a pin oak but I don't think it's mature enough to produce acorns, I've never seen acorns anywhere in the neighborhood. I have what is possibly quercus nigra growing up through another tree on my property. Sadly I live in a typical NC development which is mostly crepe myrtle, pines, and maples. I would love to keep these guys going, although I gather that if they are water oak they're not desirable. One of them is in the middle of the "lawn" (bermuda). If I fence it off will it have a fighting chance or will the bermuda eventually choke it out?