What is this

[NeilC]

Hi there,
This little tree started life with a magnolia grafted onto it.

Magnolia died off, but this hardy root stock kept going.

Any ideas of what it could be?

[shibui]

The pic is pretty indistinct for my old eyes but magnolia can only be grafted onto another magnolia so if this was once a grafted magnolia the base will still be some sort of magnolia.
There are a number of species and lots of cultivars so your trunk could be any of them. Let it grow and see what sort of flowers it has.

[NeilC]

Thanks for that, I will let it grow and see what happens