Magnified pictures added, showing the fine, golden pubescence on the twigs, buds, and undersides of the leaves. The hairs on redbay are not really visible by eye; the leaf undersides feel smooth. Swamp bay (P. palustris) leaves have more long and shaggy pubescence. The tongue is sensitive enough to detect this; if you lick the underside of a leaf (trust me), on swamp bay it will feel velvety-fuzzy. The undersides of redbay leaves will feel smooth against the tongue. Compare to swamp bay, here: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/15019191
Mountain cranberry along the trail up to Clingman's Dome at Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Found tunneling in the inner bark of a dying longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) on Seminole State Forest.
Found in the inner bark of a longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) in a plantation. Pitch tubes on bark shown in second picture. Dorsal close-up image taken over millimeter grid paper, for scale.
Extracted from the inner bark at the base of a longleaf pine (Pinus palustris). Dorsal picture taken over millimeter grid paper, for scale.
From a declining black cherry (Prunus serotina) tree at the edge of a sports field, covered with "gummosis" (globs of resin) where the beetles had tunneled in. I excavated some beetles for ID. Beetle placed on millimeter grid paper, for scale.
Update: added a better lateral picture to use as a thumbnail for this species.