butterfly garden mystery plant

[pamij]

I took over an abandoned butterfly garden at my school and this plant came up in the spring. It's virtually maintenance-free, growing in full sun in Houston. It's already 5' tall but has no flowers, yet. I would like to know if it's a beneficial plant for the garden. If not, it's taking up a lot of space and I want to take it out. Can anyone ID it for me? Thanks.

[SPOOK]

kinda looks like a bay tree

[Silver surfer]

kinda looks like a bay tree

It is not a bay tree. Laurus nobilis. That has simple leaves that are shiny and are evergreen.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...a%3DN%26um%3D1

The shrub in the school has leaves in 3.
I cannot see the edges of the leaves. Could you please add another pic to this post which shows the leaf edge, veins and stalks.
An id may not be correct without pics of flowers, but can try.

[pamij]

The tree specialist at the local arboretum suggested that it might be an ash. My husband now thinks it's a wafer ash or hop tree. Still no flowers and it hasn't grown any larger. I think we'll leave it and see if next spring it produces any "wafers."

[Silver surfer]

The tree specialist at the local arboretum suggested that it might be an ash. My husband now thinks it's a wafer ash or hop tree. Still no flowers and it hasn't grown any larger. I think we'll leave it and see if next spring it produces any "wafers."

I was looking at Staphylea trifolia. Common name Bladdernut.

staphylea trifoliata - Google Images

And Ptelea trifoliata.Common name Hop tree. This seems the most likely as your tree has alternate leaves.

http://www.uwgb.edu/BIODIVERSITY/her...s/ptetri01.htm

Both have trifoliate leaves.

[pamij]

We're gonna go with hop tree even though it doesn't have a fragrance. Someone said that our Houston drought could have affected the fragrance.

[leehydro007]

I think this is "Laurus nobilis", as per mentioned by Spook

[Silver surfer]

I think this is "Laurus nobilis", as per mentioned by Spook

leehydro007, welcome.
Please see replies below. Leaves are completely wrong for Laurus nobilis. Common name bay tree.
In winter is is so easy to tell the difference between bay and hop tree.
Bay trees keep all the leaves in winter. Leaves are thick, shiny, simple and evergreen.
Hop trees lose all their leaves in winter .Leaves are in 3's (trifoliate) and it is decidous.

[leehydro007]

yes indeed it is...actually i didn't read the replies previously as i wanted to give it a go according to my knowledge which i soon found that it was wrong...lol l...but forgot to accept my wrong post...