Texas Gardening: Flowering Tree/Shrub from the Waco area, 1 by Rainydayze

Rainydayze wrote:
I'm attaching a photo of pods, seeds, and seedling in hope of getting an id on a flowering tree or large shrub that was growing in Waco. The seeds were collected by a friend of mine who described the blooms as resembling wisteria or lilac. The pods resemble mutant unshelled peanuts but they're much harder than a peanut shell. Once cut open, they reveal an extremely hard bright red seed that looks like a fat bean and they're hard to germinate. Soaking in water makes the red covering tough and leathery. After a year I finally have four little seedlings.

DGM, who lives in West Texas, told me this was a shrub related to the lilac although she didn't know it's name. Others have told me it's a chain tree. Could someone give me a positive id. I really need to know what I'm growing and how to care for it. I'm in zone 9A in NE Florida.

Thanks,
Yolie

This message was edited May 3, 2012 4:42 PM