Suckers can appear a little distance from certain trees although in this case I would agree with Daisy, it's not part of the tree. If you look at the dead leaves from the earlier picture, they have serrated (toothed) edges whereas the "not a sucker" has smooth un-toothed leaf edges. Whatever it is growing there at the base, it is not an apple because it has opposite leaves (arranged in pairs). Not that we have determined what kind of tree it is yet either.
