Plant ID, please

This is about 15' tall and growing in the woods - Gulf coast, zone 8b. Thanks for your help!

Looks like some type of rattlebox tree that I saw Duskywing butterflies using as a larval host in Georgia last year. So many species of sesbania - perhaps you can browse Dave's plant files to narrow it down or someone from that part of the country will recognize it.

~ Cat

Thanks, Cat! That helps!

Lucy

Lucy,

You're welcome. Do hope you can get it properly identified. Do let me know if you find butterflies using it as a larval host. Have you seen any chewed up or rolled up leaves? If so, you might want to take a peek inside one - the caterpillars of some Duskywing skipper species of butterflies like to make a nest in a rolled leaf so as not to get noticed by a predator.

~ Cat

I finally wised up and put it on the Plant ID forum - it is Sesbania punicea or Pea Tree. It is in the woods behind my neighbor's house; the woods are thick and snaky, so I probably won't be going in there again! I have never noticed butterflies using it, but I'll get out my binoculars and check it. The more host plants we have, the better!

The plant you found in the woods is a Sesbania punicea. Here in South Africa its a noxious weed, but this does not mean to say it is where you saw it. Originates in Brazil, Uruguay and NE Argentina. It has many seed which is why its a weed and here in RSA its a big problem. According to my book on noxious weeds its seeds are poisonous.

Wow! Amazing how those trees can end up all over the world :o)

Sure does have some pretty blooms - and if it serves as a larval host plant for butterflies that's it good news for me. We have some similiar looking trees - sesbania species too but they are not invasive - well, least not here as we are always under drought conditions. Guess if the ground were damp enough the fallen seeds would germinate :o)

~ Cat