If the switch was made by a new field in the tree structure I think they could be mixed or switched by altitude or slope facing direction.
Another argument in mapinfo.txt file describing different regions (rectangles or circles)?
We can add any number of new scenes (new trees).
Another way might be better to use the same or similar code that Gotcha did called extended_textures. It did some random switching of alternate textures for a single texture name.
Should we have the same behavior for all of the hosts in the network game? Simple rand() may fail...
A texture change is all that is really needed since I don't think we really want to use a different model. We'd have to change the date-palm model anyway.
It's called "texture animation" and allows to have a different texture for every instance of the objects in the game. For example, board numbers on tails of choppers are individual.
Thus we must apply such animation to a tree scene.
P.S. For a month I'm out of development.

But I'll be back for sure.