I live in 9b southern california, and found this sprout coming up in one of my garden beds a few days ago. It looks quite pretty so I potted it temporarily, just in case it turns out to be interesting. I've included a few photos to try to give you an idea of what the seed it came from looked like.

I'm great with identifying garden vegetable volunteers, but trees have me stumped. At least... I think it's a tree. Thanks is advance for any assistance!



EDIT: updates photos 1/20

Interesting... How big is the seed?

Roughly the size of a small Walnut, round and smooth. As best I could tell at least. I can dig it back up for a closer inspection if you think it'd help.

Maybe a type of Buckeye.

I'm thinking it's a black walnut.. Juglans nigra.. I believe they are plentiful in Southern California.. Lord knows, I've dug up enough seedlings here thanks to the squirrels. I think even at that young stage, if you rub or scratch the stem, it should have an odor.

Yikes, black walnut could very well be it.... I hope not, though. If there's a mother tree nearby, she better keep her roots to herself!

I posted this on one other forum, and someone suggest horse chestnut. I've taken more photos now that it's a bit older, maybe they will help narrow it down:

The horse chestnut seed would be smooth and round on one side and flattened on the other.

Our California Black Walnut is Juglans californica. If its any type of walnut, it will smell like a walnut. Rub a leaf between your fingers.

The bright red foliage is odd but all those little sprouts coming off the sides are very strange - very un-tree like in my opinion.

@porkpal - I didn't see the actual seed anymore than is visible in the first few photos. Since I wanted to keep the tree alive, at least until I figured out what it was, I was afraid to dig too deep and damage the taproot.

@Daisyl @Henhouse - I completely forgot about the scratch test. So... rubbing the leaves doesn't smell like anything. Scratching the stem with a fingernail (not rubbing, that has has no smell, I have to actually abrade the surface) has a smell, but I don't know if it's a walnut smell. It's just sort of a... green, fresh, slightly sharp plant smell?

I'm sorry, I have a strange olfactory system, and certain odors allude me (when I was in High School I loved the smell of pumpkin so I bought pumpkin bar soap once for the shower... couldn't smell it at all. Bummer. Figured the brand was a bad brand, but then a friend was over shortly after I showered and they were like wow, your house smells like pumpkin! I've since encountered this in other things. So I think there's a chemical 'pumpkin replacement' I can't detect, etc.) So it's possible that I'm not the most qualified to sniff the tree. ...Probably won't ever use that last sentence again.

Any other tricks y'all got up your sleeves?

Wait and see...

This is a picture of walnut seedlings.

@Daisyl @frostweed @Henhouse @porkpal @Jai_Ganesha

Thanks for your help guys! Based on the help I got here and on another forum, I've determined it's pretty certainly a black walnut. Here's an updated picture of the plant now. It's lost almost all its red now.



Also, a new sprout popped up in my garden. It wasn't red at all, but green right from the start, but otherwise it looked identical to the first. I dissected it and this is what the seed looked like -- pretty much identical to Jai_Ganesha's photo.



I'm going to mark this completed/identified. Thanks again!

You're welcome!

As I mentioned before, California has their own native Black Walnut (Juglans californica).

http://www.calflora.org/cgi-bi...

Are the leaves from the walnut you pulled up as serrated as your little tree? I would be more comfortable with an ID if you had someone who can smell and knows what a walnut smells like check. I'm not sure but maybe rubbing a leaf between your fingers will turn them black.... maybe.

I have never seen a black walnut with leaves quite that serrated.

DaisyI said:I have never seen a black walnut with leaves quite that serrated.

I have. There's can be some pretty obvious variation but I don't know if it's geographical, environmental, random, or what.