Dumpster Diving (ID Help)

[tnaz71]

My wife & I were out today and found a little nursery. They are "remodeling" & had a lot of material in the trash pile. The guy told me "I have no idea why you would want dead plants but it's all yours" So I grabbed up a few that looked interesting & wanted to grab a few big wistera but sadly had my wifes car . Hopefully I will be able to go back this week in my pickup & get the bigger stuff.

Anyways back on topic, the problem is he didn't know what this was so once again I need your help.

Here is a few pictures of one that I was working on today. The leaves are 1 1/2" or so max & it has little sharp thorns that look and feel like needles going in your skin

I had no choice but to repot it, it was full of ants and the soil was pretty much concrete. After I worked for about 3hrs there was only 3 roots that were coming off the trunk about the thickness of my index finger and about 2ft long. Hopefully it lives but it was free..

The tree was about 2ft taller & about 2ft wide, the bottom trunk is mainly dead and bone white (just watered so doesn't show in picture)

Like always any assistance would be grateful.

Thanks

 

[milehigh_7]

I believe what you have is a Xylosma congestum. They get real nice trunks in landscape here in Las Vegas. I have really been wanting to try one.

 

[tnaz71]

Nice thank you for your time & the id.

The guy at the nursery said they were probably 8-10yrs old and said no flowers or fruit, wikipedia says "The flowers are small, yellowish, produced on racemes 1–3 cm (0.39–1.2 in) long, usually dioecious,[8] and have a strong scent. The fruit is a small purple-black berry 5–10 mm (0.20–0.39 in) in diameter that contains 2 to 8 seeds." Maybe they just were not happy enough to flower. Now to get my butt back there and get the rest before they are dead or gone