gone!

After searching around on flickr for "red furry tree", it turned up my missing tree: Sumac. More searching on Wikipedia reveals it's the class Magnioliopsida, which is why I'll say I guessed Magnolia. Some species are poisonous, but not this one. Native Americans used to roll it up with tobacco and smoke it; you can drink the juice of some species' berries or use it to treat leather. I liked it because its wintertime blooms really did cheer up this barren parking lot and give me something to look at while walking a certain pokey dog.