This volunteer plant came up within a few feet of my mandarin back in early spring. My inquisitive nature allowed it to persist rather than pulling it out as a 'weed'. It quickly grew to little less than it's current height, about two feet, and then either stopped or slowed way down while this bit of growth has started hardening up over the summer. Aside from it's less vigorous growth, it seems to be quite heatlhy, whatever it is.

I've been trying to figure out just what it might be and I finally went out with my copy of Florida's Best Native Landscape Plants and went through it page by page trying to match up the leaves. The closest thing I could find is the Redbud, Cercis canadensis. It has similar shaped leaves and both have the alternating leaf growth along the stem. But I'm not really sure that's what I have. It could very well be something exotic and not native at all.

Like I said, it's only a few feet from my mandarin tree, maybe four feet at most, but closer to three feet. So I would like to get a better idea of just what it is. If it is indeed a Redbud or some other tree, it's going to need to be moved as it would be too close to the mandarin in the long run. Anyone with a confirmation of Redbud or maybe a suggestion of another type of plant it could be?