The leaves are not wide enough to be a Bird of Paradise (Caesalpinia spp.). Other than that, it is very difficult to make a positive ID without seeing the pods or flowers. Fabaceae is such a large family that it might make a really nice ornamental.

Ty

Thanks for your help. It does look like it would be an attractive tree. I guess I should just plant and then make a positive ID when in bloom. I was just concerned if it is a mimosa as they are listed as invasive in this area.

I compared the leaves to my mimosa and they don't look like it either. The tiny leaves look more like my Teneza tree, but the Teneza doesn't have quite as long of fronds, or whatever the stems holding the tiny leaves are called.

If no one here can ID it, you might try the Name That Plant forum. Having photos of flowers would help, but someone on that forum might point you in the right direction. It would be nice to know how large it gets before planting.

Does it have thorns? A picture of the whole plant might help also. If it's in a nursery pot it must be some sort of ornamental tree. You might look down the sides of the pot and see if there is a plant tag stuck down there.

roselee, upon close inspection it does have small thorns. Does your Tenza?

That's looking more and more like the Teneza.

Yes, it has small thorns, hardly enough to stick you and they are widely spaced. This photo of my younger tree shows the texture of the bark and the thorns ...

New leaves on the younger tree ...

The dark green tree in the center of the photo is my more mature tree which is about 18 ft. tall at 12 or more years old ...

It can get larger, but is fairly show growing. I saw one on the south side of town that was about 35 ft tall.

One of the nicest things about them is they keep their leaves during the winter which is very unusual for this type of tree. The leaves are slightly more sparse, but that's all. Also the blooms are very fragrant. They produce long seed pots which split open as they dry. Is that a bean pod on the lower left of your last photo?

Thanks roselee for posting those pictures! I think you have solved the mystery for me. The bark pattern and thorns look identical to what you posted. Yes that is an empty pod in my picture.

I'm quite excited now to find a good place to plant it!

It's a wonderful easy to grow tree and I feel should be more widely used. I can dig up some seedlings if anyone coming to the San Antonio or Manchaca swap wants them. Or I can collect some seeds next spring to mail out. By the way, I find them to be drought tolerant. I never water them specifically.

Here is a link that might be useful: More info and picture of Teneza tree blooms ...

also called native mimosa. I forgot it has thorns, which explains the holes in my fingers when I pruned it last week. I find it to be a very messy tree since it blooms so much, lots of debris and pollen then tons of seeds.
They are also considered short-lived with average age of 20-30 years. It will probably outlive me.
Tally HO!