hehehe! Perhaps a photo is in order. I invite you to hate it so completely that you have it removed and plant a lovely tree that will be your true friend in its place. Life is too short to put up with wicked trees.

I've had a couple of Chinese Pistache planted for 24 years and they do not behave as you describe. They don't sucker from roots at all. Now we do get some seedling (alot of seedlings) pop up from the nuts, but they are easily mowed down, and don't try to regrow after the first mowing.
Chinese Pistache is a desirable tree (although anybody who decides they want one, be sure to get the MALE tree).

Each year I pull out thousands of little hackberry trees.
They grow anywhere their leaves fall. (usually all over my gardens)

Check out images of hackberry trees.
RT

Soapberry is said to send up suckers or reseed and form groves. That is what it's biologically designed to do. Its berries do resemble hackberry. Hackberry doesn't flower like the soapberry does, and it's leaves are generally toothed at the margins instead of smooth, at least the variety around College Station.

I've not noticed that hackberry seedlings...while there are hundreds, stink when mown over, though, so perhaps you're absolutely correct in assuming it's soapberry. Could you possibly add your zone to your signature that shows at the top? Helps a little bit. You don't have to say whereabouts you live, as zones are pretty broad, but it sometimes helps if people are trying to identify something as certain cultivars are more common in one place vs. another.

Let's see a picture! I have a huge wicked tree in our backyard that we also have yet to identify. In fact, I'm getting out there this weekend to kill all the babies. I thought it was a hackberry, but it sort of weeps, so who knows. I'll take a picture one of these days. Meanwhile, it provides nice shade to that side of the yard, and it's giving the wisteria something to climb.

Maybe a china berry tree.

Google Roughleaf Dogwood. Mine really stinks like a wet dog! Also, it sends up shoots EVERYWHERE! LOL

HTH,
Necia

I had a tree-of-heaven (Ailanthus altissima) that was truly the tree from hell. Cut the main tree down and hundreds of suckers came up as far away as 50 feet. It took me a couple of months of hand-treating every seedling with Round-up to get rid of it. Really nightmare-ish. Wonder if that's what you've got.

Could it be a Chinese Tallow? They grow up everywhere, and stink when I pull them up.

Have you tried applying a pre-emergent herbicide? It's designed to prevent germination. I don't know that they work on tree seeds, and of course they're not organic, so if you're into that aspect of gardening it ain't for you. But if you're like me and will throw everything science can produce at your garden problems, it's worth a shot.

paper mulberry?
http://www.invasive.org/browse/subject.cfm?sub=5208

My bet is roughleaf dogwood also!

Smooth/Staghorn Sumac?

"although anybody who decides they want one (chinese pistachio), be sure to get the MALE tree"

Why? Whats wrong with a female chinese pistachio?

Female chinese pistache bear the fruit, which I think is beautiful. Some might say its messy or or unsightly. They are tiny little red nuts, 1/4" in size, similar to yaupon holly.

Without a picture or more information it is hard to determine what type of tree you have. What part of Texas do you live in?

On the Texas Invasives website, the Chinese pistache Pistacia chinensis is considered an invasive tree. Could it be another invasive, the Brazilian peppertree Schinus terebinthifolius? Also, as mentioned above, could it be the very invasive Chinese tallowtree Triadica sebifera.

My next door neighbor has two Chinese Pistache trees in his back yard. One of them is a female ... grrrr.

I pull up hundreds of seedlings in my yard from that tree of his. They pop up in my planting areas. I don't know if it's possible to be 100% sure that you are getting a male when you purchase a small tree at a nursery. But if you wind up with a female, you may be sorry you chose this tree.

Chinese Pistache is certainly well-adapted to our soil and climate here. I agree that in many ways it is a quality tree. But I think it should be pointed out to the prospective new buyer that the female tree is invasive and that the branching structure of these trees is not graceful, even when mature. But it is a durable and healthy tree for sure, and much, much better than most other "imported" trees.

Randy