I have three of these trees that popped up on my property here in SW Florida after Hurricane Irma passed through.

The tallest of the three, the one in the photo, stands about 10 feet tall. They are growing in in the same general shady area, in open, sandy soil.

The mature leaves run ~ 4-6" in length.

The leaves are like a monocot's....
Ruscus?

It looks like a willow to me.

Definitely not a willow. Willows have a clear dicot leaf structure(central vein with pinnate branching secondary veins) and have a jagged edge...
There is a large willow tree near my building, ive also seen other wild varieties. I can tell with absolute certainty this is not one.

I think it could be this type of Acacia, or a similar one:

Acacia aulacocarpa

I must be doing something wrong - the suggested name was meant to be a link to our PDB.

Ursula's link:

Brown Salwood (Acacia aulacocarpa)

Thank you, Connie.

Acacia aulacocarpa looks like a possibility. I'll look into that more.

Thank you, Ursula! (And everyone else that chimed in.) I believe we may have a winner.

When I think of Acacia, I always expect leaves typical of plants in the bean family. Now I have learned that the "leaves" of Acacia aulacocarpa (and many other Acacias) are not true leaves, but modified leaf petioles (phyllodes) which function as leaves. That explains the linear vein structure resembling a monocot.

Also, I have seen trees in bloom around the Naples area looking very much like Acacia aulacocarpa or Acacia auriculiformis, or something similar.

I can't be sure of exact species, but it doesn't really matter, as both listed are considered invasive in Florida, so whatever I have will be removed.

Thanks again. Good info to have while the trees are still small enough to be easily removed.

I'm marking this thread as solved.

Ron

I wonder if it might be the invasive Earleaf Acacia (Acacia auriculiformis) that is found in South Florida?

http://www.plantatlas.usf.edu/...

Thanks, Lin!

I agree A. auriculiformis may be the more likely suspect here in south Florida from what I have been reading.

However, they will not live long enough to bloom for a more positive ID.