Our property is full of this understory. If unencumbered, they can become quite large. Even the dead ones maintain a dense, intricate, vein-like pattern, that is brittle, but due to the protected areas in which they grew, the structure is maintained for years, providing an almost eery labrynth. The "wood" is almost like cedar becoming darker with age and eventually black after death. The leaves are waxey, fingernail sized to approximately 1.5" in diameter and have a teardrop shape. It's reminiscent of yaupon, but I don't think that's what it is. The location is in East Texas on property that has springs and a creek, but these trees/shrubs seem to grow in the better drained areas. I don't have a picture with the fruit and I don't recall the flower. But I think it could best be described as a dark blue "drupe" (forgive my amateur hijacking of the word, but I think that's correct). EDIT: Whoops, I just realized I posted this in the wrong forum. Would a mod please move this to the Plant Identification forum.
I think I found it: Farkleberry, Sparkleberry (Vaccinium arboreum) or http://www.floridata.com/ref/V/vacc_arb.cfm Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.
