Solaris 10 x86 VM was shipped with four NICs, two each teamed together. We don't want or need. I ifconfig downed e1000g2 and e1000g3 and removed their /etc/hostname.* entries. But the kernel still sees those devices, and I'm not sure how to remove them. They have been removed from the VM config, so I'm assuming there's a /dev/something that's been left behind, but I'm sure someone can tell me exactly what to look for instead of my holding my breath and seeing if X works 
I think the words that you need to search for are "Solaris unplumb".
I could go into detail but you can find it easily yourself.
If that doesn't help please post back here.
The interfaces are unplumbed and unconfigured. But the kernel is seeing and registering them at boot.
Yes, I am sure that the booting kernel will probe that hardware to see what's there. Can't you switch off the adapter(s) in the machine's BIOS?
---------- Post updated at 06:11 PM ---------- Previous update was at 06:04 PM ----------
Teamed devices show up as 'aggr' (aggregated) devices in /dev e.g.
/dev/aggr1
You could unconfigure them from their constituent e1000g2, e1000g3, etc.
Is there a forceload in /etc/system?
Does dladm show-aggr show them?
if this is Solaris 11. interfaces are handled differently.
there are two layers, the datalink (dladm) which controls the physical layer and aggregation
and IP layer (ipadm) which controls the TCP/IP configuration. To remove them from the OS for use you use
/tmp# ipadm help delete-ip
usage:
delete-ip <IP-interface>