All that I can add is that, on closer inspection, the leaves do not look like Prunus caroliniana (Carolina laurelcherry). I can’t (at least from pictures) distinguish Eleagnus from some other simple leafed shrubs.

Here is a couple bigger images in my photobucket. http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/m530/Sweettpickle/leafs_zpso9zvlax1.jpg http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/m530/Sweettpickle/base_zps31pmxmig.jpg I would see berries on it, what’s not seen is the chairs I keep under that shrub/tree. Just cut the grass and moved them. I sit there all the time watching the kids play. Since I have lived here (9 years) its never had any. I just recently noticed its not looking good like before.

On second look the foliage resembles Elaeagnus.

Couldn’t say for sure whether it’s one or not, but it certainly could be. Laurel cherry flowers are unnoticeable, and the “cherries” are very small and black (English pea size or smaller), somewhat unnoticeable also unless you’re looking for them in the right season. Of course, they’re green until ripe. I keep campaigning to call them ‘laurel cherries’, as most sources I’ve consulted prefer that, and it is truly a cherry (prunus species), with only a resemblance to laurel in the leaves.

Has never had flowers or berries on it.

I guess I should have added that it hasn’t ever bloomed flowers or had berries on it.

Compare to Cherry Laural: http://www.wildflower.org/gallery/result.php?id_image=23933